


The Redneck and The Samurai (I)

by twhite179



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Atlanta, Daryl Dixon x Reader, Daryl Dixon/Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Daryl Dixon/Original female Character - Freeform, Daryl Dixon/You - Freeform, Merle Dixon - Freeform, Morgan - Freeform, Original Female Character - Freeform, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Reader Insert, Slow Burn, Slow Burn Romance, daryl dixon - Freeform, reader - Freeform, rick grimes - Freeform, sophia - Freeform, the walking dead - Freeform, twd, twd - season 1, walking dead - Freeform, walking dead - family, walking dead - relationship - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:46:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 26,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27709958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twhite179/pseuds/twhite179
Summary: After the trauma of your past and the world now in utter chaos, you'd never have thought you'd have found a group such as this to ride out the walker filled world. You navigate through this new apocalyptic life with Rick Grimes and others, including a certain redneck with a crossbow, facing obstacle after obstacle together and fighting for one another as friendships turn into family.Part 1 - You and Sophia meet a man named Rick Grimes and follow him to Atlanta in search of safety and his family. You meet a group of survivors, including the Dixon brothers, joining them on a journey for hope of something more.(Part 2 posted)(Follows the walking dead (TV) storyline but with my added reader character, plotlines and twists of existing plotlines.)
Kudos: 11





	1. one

The world is cruel. I realised that a long time ago, back before the whole world turned to shit. Although, I argue it was already full of a lot of it. I know that I’ve had my fair share, or unfair for that matter. It was just me and Sophia for years; I lost my dad and stepmom when I was young, I was six when it happened and found them both, two scenes etched into my memories forever. After what happened to my dad, my stepmom wasn’t able to live without him, she chose to be with him a month later. I had to live with my mother after that, if you could call her that, she was all I had but I would’ve rather had no one. My stepmom was more of a mom to me than her, she never had a kid of her own and I guess I became that. Some people aren’t meant to be parents and my mother was most definitely one of them. Any little problem, inconvenience or just any damn bad mood was directed to me for years in many ways and things just got worse when she found a new husband when I was 12 and a kid was born nearly two years later. That seemed to be too much for them though as the day she was born was the day they left us. 

In the hospital, after they’d gone I was glad. I should have been scared or worried, but I wasn’t. Everything that happened had scarred me, but it allowed me to become strong in that moment when I saw baby Sophia. I turned all the pain into something else, for her because I promised to myself I wouldn’t let a bad thing happen to this child. I wanted to try and make a life for both of us. It seemed so unfair that this small thing was so innocent to the situation, they’d brought her into an abusive home but then bolted at the first chance they got. I suppose really it was the only thing and best thing they did for her. Although, I got why they left, I didn’t care, we were better off without them and I didn’t want anyone else to hurt us. I wanted to make a run for it but the hospital had us under constant watch because we’d been left. 

It happened quite quick. We were put into a home together; I had refused to be separated from her and under the special circumstances they’d kept us together and put us into a home with this couple who seemed a little older than your typical parents. They were nice but I didn’t want to stay, I didn’t know these people and I had this notion that no one could look after Sophia better than me and at this point I didn’t need nor want people looking after me. They tried to get me to go back to school, as my mother pulled me out a year before they left, so I could readjust to a normal routine after everything. But I pleaded to be home schooled so I could be near Sophia at all times. I had thought of running with her when we got there and that's exactly what I did. In the middle of one of the first few nights, I took off with Sophia, heading into town to get a taxi into the city, thinking Atlanta would be large enough to cover us up and make it hard to find us. We'd stayed in temporary housing. Sophia wouldn't stop crying. A woman there had offered to help me with her and I soon realised that I had no idea how to look after a new-born. I thought I knew everything and was suddenly invincible at the birth of Sophia and being left with her, but I didn’t, and I wasn’t. I wasn’t twenty four, I was fourteen and way too young to be looking after a child alone, but I'd thought I could do it regardless. we only stayed a day and a half there. I could tell some of the workers were getting suspicious of my young age with a baby and I didn't want Sophia to be taken away. I came to the conclusion that it was better to go back to the cabin with our new adoptive parents. At least that way I could stay with her and learn how to look after her properly, then leave when we were ready. So, I decided to watch and help them look after her until I could do it alone. They weren't happy in the slightest when I got back. They'd been worried sick and were extremely mad but they never laid hands on me, making me think perhaps they weren't so bad after all. 

I contemplated when Sophia turned one to run with her after thinking that I could finally do it alone. That year went quick but also matured me a lot, our parents let me take care of Sophia more and more making me think we could make it alone and start a new life away from the memories that led us to this situation. I wanted to leave but the kindness of our adoptive parents stopped me from going. They weren’t overly lovable, but they cared and they weren’t cruel. They were good people and I thought if I left them taking Sophia with me, it would hurt them and I didn’t want to be the one who did that, essentially mirroring my mother’s actions. So, I stayed. Thinking that perhaps we could make something out of this and when the right time came, we would leave together to make better lives for ourselves.

However, it was a year later that we left regardless. It was one night, one little accident that changed our course as our little cabin we lived in near the woods caught fire in the middle of the night while we all slept. To this day I still don’t know how it started but I woke feeling slightly dazed and smelling smoke. The house was already ablaze and I didn’t care about anything other than Sophia. I stumbled my way to her room, thinking the smoke inhalation must have made me dizzy. The whole house was on fire and I wondered how long all of us had been asleep. The fire was taking over everything of the house and my only thought was just getting Sophia out. 

I sat outside with Sophia watching the cabin burn. Our adoptive parents never joined us, I thought of going back inside to help them, but the fire was already severe and I didn’t want to go in to never come back out again, leaving Sophia alone. It wasn’t long before I began to hear sirens in the distance no doubt travelling towards us, someone probably seeing the fire in the distance from the small town we lived near. It was then that I realised this was our chance to leave. I was sad to see the house and life we started go up in flames, but I took this moment as a starting point for me and Sophia. So, I chose to run. I took Sophia and fled into the surrounding woods before the sirens got any louder and closer.


	2. two

Our adoptive father said he’d always lived by the woods and he often took me with him and taught me small lessons that were useful for the woods, hunting, tracking, what to do with the animals. It was his side and idea of home schooling I suppose, thought I didn’t complain, it was somewhat interesting. Although, he always had me observe, never letting me do anything myself but I figured that was his process, at least for a while. After over a year, he started letting me practise shooting his gun, killing the animals we tracked and hunted. It was one of the reasons I decided to stay, seeing the valuable lessons he was teaching me and one that made me sad to see the two never come out that burning cabin. However, it was because of this that I knew I could make it with Sophia if we ran.

I knew of a nearby town, if we kept on going through the woods in a certain direction we would make it there. We didn’t stop. I didn’t want to be put in another home, I knew if we made it to the next town we could make it on our own, no one would know us there and it was a new start. It took all night until we got there. We had no possessions, no money, nothing, just the clothes we wore and my determination that we were going to be fine. It was early morning when we were walking past a bar that a couple people were only just staggering out of. I figured that the bar may be closing but was the closest place to being open at this time and any hope of something at the crack of dawn. I was a little hesitant at first to enter, not trusting anybody and after everything that had happened it had turned me a little cold and reluctant to let people in but we were tired and hungry. Inside, a man was cleaning up the bar and seeing me holding a sleeping Sophia in my arms he seemed shocked but ushered us in. He asked a lot of questions, but I was reluctant to answer them. I told him the bare minimum but judging by the dirty and tired state of me and the sleeping Sophia, he took pity and said we could stay the day but we’d have to leave the next, saying the bar was no place for a small child such as Sophia. 

He’d put us upstairs above the bar in a rundown room that someone obviously lived in years ago as it had all that you needed to live, a bed, a shower, a small kitchen unit in the corner, the basic necessities. He allowed us to clean up and even fed us without me having to ask. He was a kind old man I thought, he seemed quite happy to help us and I wondered if it was too good to be true, maybe that he had ulterior motives but tried to forget it thinking that not everyone is bad. He left us for most of the day and while Sophia slept through it, I tried to come up with a plan, how to get money, what to do but ultimately I thought that the best first move in a town that I didn’t really know and wanted to keep a low profile in was to perhaps ask the old man if he needed any help here, the bar was small, much like the town and I figured it would keep us away from prying eyes and would be a start to earn some money to leave as soon as possible. 

When the old man, who called himself Doc, came back that late afternoon, I pitched my plea of work but he didn’t seem keen on it, which made me think that perhaps he wasn’t too bad after all as if he was he’d probably be all too happy for us to stay. Eventually, I managed to convince him that it was a temporary thing, just until I had enough money to move on. I lied about my age of course, telling him I was eighteen instead of sixteen thinking that it was just a small stretch that it may be believable and would sway him thinking I was okay to work in a place such as this, which evidently it was. 

We were allowed to stay, I was able to work and Doc made sure we were taken care of. He didn’t live at the bar, somewhere else in town but I learned he lived alone which I thought was probably why he had taken to us and was persuaded so easily. Although I was still weary of people, I grew quite fond of Doc as he took us both under his wing, he particularly was fond of Sophia and she became quite attached to him also. He eventually moved us out from above the bar and into his small house across the town after his insisting and my trust in him finally letting me allow it but we kept the room above the bar in liveable condition, so Sophia wasn’t left home alone while we worked. He bought her things like paints, toys and things to keep her occupied during the day while I rested from working the nights at the bar with Doc. 

He became our family and a temporary situation became a permanent one. Although it wasn’t much, I had become accustomed to our life at the bar with Doc and the regulars that came almost every night. He had said we were like the family he never had as I learned he never had his own and lost his wife many years ago. He started to break down my cold exterior and distrust of everyone but it still lingered which I was happy about because although the people I knew were okay and the town was small and uneventful, the world wasn’t, it was unpredictable and cruel at the most of times and I wanted to protect Sophia from that no matter what. 

Doc managed to convince me to get Sophia into the local school, and that was our life for years, Sophia growing as we worked at the bar. I was happy that even though it was a small, simple life, it was one that allowed Sophia to grow up without fear and pain. I still had plans to save enough so that one day we could move onto something bigger, knowing that although this was a nice setting for us, it wouldn’t last forever. And I was right. It didn’t.


	3. three

It had been eleven years since we came to Doc’s. Sophia was now fourteen, the age I was when we were left and started this journey together. I couldn’t help but notice how different we were at this age she now was; she was happy, innocent and lovable, an opposite of what I was at that age but I was glad for it, knowing that I would want to keep that happy innocence as long as I could. My plan was to leave when Sophia finished school to pursue another life, a better one for both of us, one where she could start and lead her own life and I would see wherever it took me. All of that was shot to shit though when the world went into meltdown.

Some kind of virus had begun to spread and people started to go nuts. Doc came home one day, looking seriously ill and said that someone had bit him on his way back from the shops. I told him to stay indoors with Sophia and I’ll go out to get some supplies for his bite and the house. The town was empty and the few people I saw in the distance seemed dazed and slow, just wandering around aimlessly. When I returned home, I heard a scream from Sophia and found Doc, a snarling mess over her trying to bite her from the looks of it. I had no choice but to kill him. I grabbed and pulled him off, with Sophia behind me, he wouldn’t acknowledge any word I yelled at him and just kept coming at us. I kept pushing him away and eventually broke the wooden chair next to us, pinning him down and stabbing him with tears in my eyes. He didn’t die at first, I stabbed him in the chest but it did nothing. Turns out whatever this virus was, it meant you could only be stopped with a blow to the head. 

Warnings, alerts and any news was broadcast over the radios, telling us to go to Atlanta, that it was safe there and a refugee centre had been set up. We’d been boarded up in the house for days listening to it while chaos raged outside. I chose to let it all die down outside before we even tried to leave, thinking it would be better when there was less going on, my distrust of people rocketing again knowing that in chaos, morals tend to be forgotten. When we did, it was a ghost town but there was carnage throughout the town. It was a mess. Cars everywhere, buildings and houses smashed and looted, anything that could have gone wrong, had. I brought a kitchen knife with me, it being the only weapon I could find and I wanted to make our way to the bar because I knew Doc had guns and a katana displayed on the wall in there. I figured that was all better than a kitchen knife to protect both Sophia and I. 

When we left the house, I could see a big group of the infected in the distance, seeing the distinguished way that they walk, coming towards us and I knew I needed to get to the bar and back to the house before they blocked us off from getting back inside. We came across a couple stragglers of the infected on the way and I took them down with the knife; the realisation that I needed the weapons at the bar became even more apparent. Once we got there, I found the guns were unloaded. Typical. So, I grabbed the sword and went upstairs to grab what food we had stored up there. Upon leaving, I saw the dead had already blocked the way back to our house, not knowing what to do or where to go, the only thing we could do was run and in the opposite direction. We continued down the town. I was hoping that we could circle back around when the dead took off somewhere else but they kept on course and more and more seemed to appear. We started to become surrounded in all directions. We were stood in the middle of one of the housing streets of the town, the houses were either smashed or boarded up. Sophia was clinging to me, holding her small toy lion that Doc had bought her when she was little. Something she hadn’t let go off since he died. I was looking around at the dead suddenly appearing everywhere, I had no idea how to get out of this and started to panic when I suddenly heard someone shout my name.


	4. four

I looked over at one of the houses from where it came and saw Morgan at the front door of a house, beckoning us to come inside quickly. Without hesitation we ran. I knew Morgan. He came into the bar sometimes and generally was a nice man, he always tipped and engaged in conversation with me which I appreciated. He slammed the door shut, locking and barricading it. The house was a part of the nicer streets that I always thought were so grand. One that I thought that perhaps Sophia and I could get one day, it never seemed like my thing but I thought it could be ours one day. But clearly it wasn’t meant to be; the world clearly had other plans. Like a man eating virus.

Morgan asked an abundance of questions with an ever so slight bit of frustration in his voice but I took it with a pinch of salt seeing as he probably just risked his family’s safety bringing us into his home. They stood watch at the door as I took Sophia further into the house that was boarded up at every window. I suddenly realised his wife wasn’t here and knew the worst had happened, much like Doc I assumed. As we sat down in the dark house, I thought how Morgan had called the dead walkers and found it curious. I mean, it made sense, they did have a distinct walk and that is basically all they did other than try to eat you. That is, if you could make sense out of this whole situation. The world had really gone to shit. I mean, it was already a pretty shitty place at times but now there was the dead stumbling around. The walking dead.

We stayed with Morgan and his son for a few weeks after he let us in. I thought that perhaps it was better staying with them there for a while after what happened the first time Sophia and I ventured outside. But after a while I wanted to move on; I had become rather good with the samurai sword I got from the bar and I started to see the house as something that wouldn’t be safe forever. That there must be something better out there somewhere, like Atlanta. I started to think this way after going out scavenging with Morgan a lot on runs for food and supplies around the town. He had even begun to let his son come on some runs with us; he could defend himself and Morgan urged me to do the same with Sophia but I wasn’t keen on the idea of having her out here when she didn’t need to be. 

We’d been doing this for a while and had gone around most of the area. It was only a matter of time before there was nothing left, and the place had clearly been forgotten or just abandoned as nothing came to the town’s aid. The focus probably on the bigger cities I figured. Morgan wasn’t set on the idea of leaving; he was still haunted by his dead wife lingering around the town. I had tried many times to convince him to leave, that soon there would be nothing here to stay for and that one day he would have to face the reality of his wife but I never seemed to get through to him. 

Then one day, coming back from an unsurprisingly unsuccessful run with pretty much nothing to show for, we’re walking back to the house, Morgan and Duane walking up ahead while I take down a couple walkers. When, I suddenly hear Duane yelling for his father and then a gunshot to follow. I run towards them to see them standing over a man in what looks like a hospital gown, with Morgan pointing his gun at his face.

“What’s your wound, you tell me, or I will kill you.” 

That’s what I hear Morgan demanding from the man laying on the ground as I approach with my sword in hand, ready for whatever is going on here. As I come into view, the man suddenly falls unconscious. I argue with Morgan to lower his gun saying he isn’t exactly a threat, with Morgan arguing not yet he wasn’t. I check his wound and realise it’s not a bite. I check all around for any scratches or other areas he could have possibly been bit, but nothing. He’s alive. For now, at least.

“He’s not bit. We should get him to the house before walkers start gathering, that gun is gonna attract them all back around here.” I say as I start to manoeuvre the unconscious man. Morgan just looks at me uncertain, I can see he doesn’t like it. I understand his hesitation, I wouldn’t usually help a stranger. But, we hadn’t seen a person in months and something told me this guy was harmless and probably clueless judging from the way he was just out here alone in a gown and nothing to protect himself.

“Come on, look at him. He’s not a threat and he needs help. I mean he’s not bit, he’s pretty clean and wearing a hospital gown which probably means he’s been hauled up in that hospital this whole time.” I argue against his look of disapproval until he finally starts to help me get this man back to the house in a hurry.

“You can patch him up and when he wakes we’ll decide what to do with him, if he’s a liability or trouble, he’s your problem to deal with.” Morgan states sternly as we make our way back.


	5. five

“Hey.” I hear Morgan quietly call.

While cleaning my hands from patching the man’s wound, I turn seeing him gesture his head towards the man as he sits in the corner having been keeping an eye on us the whole time in case. I look back over to the man, who’ve tied to the bed as a precaution, to see him waking up.

“Got that bandage changed now. It was pretty rank. What was the wound?” I ask still washing my hands after bandaging him up.

“Gunshot.”

“Gunshot? What else? Anything?” Morgan questions.

“Gunshot ain’t enough?” the man says seeming confused by the question.

I watch as Morgan interrogates the man, not thinking it necessary asking him about having any other wounds seeing as I checked him over for any but I don’t stop him from carrying on nonetheless. Even if he’s not infected and I did help him, we still don’t know this man and appearances can be deceiving.

As Morgan stands up from over the man, finally content that he’s not infected. I come over and unsheathe my knife. 

“Take a moment to look how sharp this is. If you try anything, I will kill you with it and don’t you think I won’t.” I stare into his eyes as I say it, not sure if he’s scared, confused or angry or all of them and then cut the ties on him connected to the bed frame.

“Come on out when you’re able.” I walk out the room with Morgan back to the kids.

A little later, the man comes down as we’re making some food and starts talking about how he knew whose house this was as he walked around the room towards the window. He goes to peel the blanket back across the window.

“Don’t do that. They’ll see the light. There’s more of them out there than usual.” The man just stares as he stops.

“I never should have fired that gun today. Sound draws them, now they’re all over the street. Stupid. Using a gun. It all happened so fast, I didn’t think.” Morgan explains as the man walks towards us.

“You shot that man today.”

“Man?” I question.

“Weren’t no man.” Duane adds.

“The hell was that out your mouth just now?” Morgan quickly snaps at Duane.

“It wasn’t a man.” He corrects himself as I smile in amusement, his grammar being called into question a lot these days. But the moment passes just as quick as the man retorts back “You shot him in the street out front. A man.”

“Friend. You need glasses. It was a walker.” With the word friend, I know that Morgan has accepted this man not a threat and with that so do I. “Come on. Sit down before you fall down.” I gesture to the empty seat he’s standing behind so we can eat. 

“Hey, you even know what’s going on.” I ask as we begin eating, still curious about how he ended up out there and why he seems so clueless. “I woke up today in the hospital. Came home, that’s all I know.” He looks defeated at the food as me and Morgan share a glance. Knowing my suspicions were right. “But you know about the dead people right?” Morgan asks.

“Yeah I saw a lot of that. Out on the loading dock, piled in trucks.”

“No. Not the ones they put down. The ones they didn’t. The walkers. Like the one Morgan shot today. Cause he’d have ripped into you. Tried to eat you, taken some flesh at least.” The man looks confused. “Well, I guess if this is the first you’re hearing it, I know how it must sound.” I finish. 

“They’re out there now? in the street?”

“Yeah. They get more active after dark sometimes. Maybe it’s the cool air, or--hell, maybe it’s just me firing off that gun today. But we’ll be fine as long as we stay quiet. Probably wander off by morning.” Morgan explains as the man just picks at his food.

“Well, listen. One thing we do know, don’t get bit. They saw your bandage and that’s what we were afraid of. Bites kill ya. The fever burns you out. But then after a while. You come back.” I add as Duane and Morgan share a sorrowful look. “Seen it happen.” Duane says. “Me too.” Sophia sadly points out, both of us thinking of Doc as we all resume eating. No one talks for the rest of the meal. The man probably quite dumbfounded at everything that’s just been thrown his way. 

Later on, in the living room, as the kids try to sleep, I find myself wondering about the man’s family as Morgan mentioned he had said a name when seeing Duane on the street. “Carl. He your son? You said his name today.” I ask curiously as Morgan listens with the same look of curiosity. “He’s a little younger than the two of your kids.” He answers gesturing to both of us. “Oh, um--she’s not my kid, she’s my little sister, but yeah, he is his son.” I reply looking at the kids. “Well, I did think you looked kinda young for a mother of what twelve? Thirteen?” he states offering a smile. “Fourteen. But I basically am. Closest thing we’ve had to one.” I correct. “And Carl. He’s with his mother?” I add quickly, wanting to change the subject. “I hope so.” The man looks down defeated and I can’t help but feel sorry for him. I’d rather know than be stuck in a state of imagination and uncertainty.

“Dad?” Morgan strokes a sleepy Duane letting him know he’s there. “Did you ask him?” Morgan chuckles. “Your gunshot. The kids and I got a little bet going and they said you’re a bank robber.” We all chuckle at the idea, even the man. “Quite the opposite. Sheriff’s deputy. Rick Grimes.” 

A car alarm goes off suddenly outside. The others go to look as I turn the lights down. Duane says, “She’s here” and I immediately know who’s out there. He comes running to his bed and Morgan after him telling him to cry into the pillow. The man sits back down while Morgan explains what happened to his wife, how he couldn’t put her down. All the while, the front doorknob is being turned by probably her outside. But all it makes me think is how we need to leave this place sooner rather than later and my patience for Morgan’s reluctance is wearing thin.


	6. six

Morning comes and we’ve made our way over to Rick’s home, on his insistence to go there. He explains that they’re alive, that he knows this because all the clothes are gone, the family photos, anything sentimental is gone. Morgan tries arguing the point but breaks at the mention of photo albums, thinking of his own wife doing the same thing when it all went down. 

“They’re in Atlanta, I bet.” I point out.

“Why’s that?”

“Refugee centre. Huge one, they said, before the broadcast stopped. Military protection, food, shelter. They told people to go there. Said it’d be safest to do so. Plus, they’ve got the Centre for Disease Control there. Said they were working out how to solve all this. That’s where I wanna go. Atlanta. It’s where we should go.” I look to Morgan as I finish and turns to look at me knowing I aimed it at him. 

“How we know it ain’t the same as here.” Morgan retorts.

“We don’t. But we have to try Morgan. I keep saying we can’t stay here. Everything’s nearly gone. Food, supplies, gas, everything. Hell, the last decent shower we had was well over a month ago.” Just then Rick grabs a set of keys, instructing us to follow as he heads out the door.

We arrive at the sheriff’s station, unsure as to why we’re there but as Rick leads us to the locker room I suddenly begin to guess, and I hope and pray that I’m right. The feeling of hot water on my skin is a welcome pleasure and I thank all the gods that I helped, and convinced Morgan to help, this Rick Grimes off the street. 

As I dress with Sophia on the other side of the lockers, I hear Rick and Morgan talk about Atlanta, how Rick sees it as a good idea, a safer place. Then Morgan explains himself for staying put. How they were headed that way, but the streets weren’t fit to be on because of the panic, how his wife got sick and they had to lay low somewhere because she couldn’t travel. I think to myself I’m glad we skipped that mass evacuation, not wanting to think what might have happened to Sophia or me if we had. He says how after she died they kinda just froze in place. Froze being the right word, I thought. I feel sorry for the man, not wanting to leave his wife the way she is but never being able to put her down, he’s stuck in a limbo. A part of me feels sorry for him but the other knows that eventually, it’s what is gonna bring him down and if we don’t leave, us down.

We left the station separately. Me having decided to go with Rick to Atlanta with Sophia and Morgan and Duane staying. I know why Morgan chose to stay; I just wish he hadn’t. There was no arguing with the man and I tried but he refused, just like every other time. I didn’t want to leave him but it was his choice to stay and this was mine. Rick gave him a couple guns, some ammo and a radio, so if he came up there, that’s how he’d find us. We said our goodbyes and departed in separate vehicles. As Rick, Sophia and I drove off in a station car, I hoped that whatever happens, Morgan and Duane would make it.


	7. seven

On the road, Rick tried calling out to anyone through the car’s radio system even at my insistence that he most likely wouldn’t hear anything, but he tried anyhow, to no avail like I said. He gave up in a quiet huff. A moment passed before he spoke again.

“Y/N, I don’t think I actually thanked you for-, um, saving me back there, I suppose.” Rick says after a long silence. 

“Well, I did hold a knife to your face so, I suppose it might have slipped your mind.” He smiles at the comment which I share. “No, I get it. You were cautious. Protecting what’s yours. I would have been the same.” I don’t respond, not really knowing what to say. 

“How long has it just been you and your sister? Was it since the start of all this or before?” he asks after another silence.

“Before. Long time before. I’m all she’s had her whole life essentially. But, it was better that way. For both of us, you know.” I explain vaguely, not wanting to divulge our life story to someone we have really only just met. 

“Yeah, I think I do. How old are you anyway?”

“Twenty seven. Why?”

“So, that means you were fourteen yourself when-, well whatever happened. That’s pretty young to be looking after a kid, let alone a baby. You had no one to look after you both?” he probes cautiously.

“We had a few of people along the way. They’re all gone now. I never really had the best luck with family growing up. I tried to change that with Sophia. For her. We ended up here and ended up staying.” I scoff reflecting back to blow after blow of my past. “Now there’s this. Never really caught a break I suppose.”

“You lived in that town back there? I’ve never seen you around and I lived and worked there for, well, more years than I’d care to admit.” He smiles at his own joke. “Yeah, I tried to keep ourselves to ourselves. I preferred that way. I didn’t like people getting close. I wasn’t one for helping others. But, after time, I guess I started to come around. Otherwise I wouldn’t have helped your ass off the road.” I joke back, smiling at my own dry humour, that I see Rick found amusing too. 

He nudges me saying “Nice.” I smile at the interaction, thinking it’s been a while since I’ve shared even the smallest bit of humour with someone, that wasn’t Morgan. Rick carries on, “Well, I’m glad you did. If we find my family, I’ll have you to thank. But, if you used to be so unsure of others. In this chaos, why help me, a stranger?” he asks more seriously now.

“Well, given everything that’s going on, I’ve started to think that you’re gonna need people to survive this. When Morgan helped us, called us into the house, he made me realise I should start helping others. Plus, seeing you there like that. Call me naïve but, it made me think that if Sophia or I were ever like that, I’d like to imagine that someone, even a stranger, would help us.” He doesn’t respond but I see he understands what I said in his eyes, that he agrees. There’s a pause before he asks yet another question.

“So, um, the sword? Not exactly your most conventional weapon.” He laughs to himself. “Well, actually, officer friendly,” I see him look at me with his eyebrows raised at the nickname, I smirk to myself “it’s pretty useful, it’s quiet and never runs out of ammo.”

“Do you know how to use a gun?” I looked at him seeing he’s seriously asking but I remember this guy knows nothing about me. 

“I could shoot that Colt Python of yours just fine if I had to Rick.” He seemed impressed I knew his gun.

“So you know your guns, huh?”

“Well, not really, but I know how to shoot and my shot ain’t half bad either, I just prefer to keep the noise down as best I can. The sooner you learn that the better. A few walkers is fine but get them all grouped up together, you better watch your ass.” 

I can see Rick goes to reply but is interrupted by the sputtering engine that then brings the car to a stop. 

“Guess, we’re on foot for a while.” I say looking Rick. “Come on Sophia.” I call to her in the back as I exit the car.

“We could look in that house over there for gas.” Rick states pointing to a small house in the fields apposite the road we’ve stopped on, getting out the car. I nod, not thinking we’ll find any but it’s worth the try. He grabs a gas can and the bag of guns and ammo, which I thought was smart to keep with us and not leave in the car, just in case, and start walking to the house in the far distance. As we approach, Rick starts to yell for anyone on the property to help.

“Hey. What did I say about noise!” I burst out. He goes to check out the house, but I decide to look around outside. I find a truck, but it doesn’t start, even with a hotwire and I figure the battery is dead. Rick approaches looking a little sickened by whatever he saw inside the house and I’m glad I stayed outside. He looks to me with a little hope coming over to the truck, but I shake my head and I see it vanish. But it comes back just as quick when I see him notice something off to the other side of the truck. I make my way around to see a couple horses in the field the truck is parked next to. Rick and I look at each other and I shrug, seeing it as good as any means of travel around as we make our way towards them. 

“Hey, at least they won’t run out of gas.” Rick says smiling and I appreciate the small win, smiling too.


	8. eight

We manage to make it to Atlanta. Upon approach on the highway we start to see the backlog of abandoned vehicles on the opposite side of the road. They were all on the side of the highway and facing to leave. On our horses, Rick and I share a deflating look, knowing that it couldn’t be a good sign, but we carry on anyway, not having many other options. As Sophia clings to my waist from behind me, I wonder if Morgan was right about Atlanta having the same fate as the abandoned town we left him at.

Riding into the city, it is like the town but worse. It’s in total ruin and chaos. It’s eerily quiet and there doesn’t seem to be anyone in sight, not even a walker. Which seems way too strange to me. Making our way through the streets, I notice there’s destroyed army trucks and helicopters, among many other things. Not fuelling my hope in the slightest, knowing that the army was here and they didn’t seem to have helped the situation, just fell to the same fate of everything and everyone else. 

As we pass a bus, we hear motion come from inside and a few walkers make their way out of it. Nothing we couldn’t outrun but we move a little faster to get ahead of them nonetheless. We make our way around a tank when suddenly what sounds like faint helicopter blades starts to get closer. Both Rick and I look around for it and it soothes me to know I wasn’t just hearing things when I see him looking around too. Rick finally spots it and rides off in its direction, I follow suit not seeing it wise to separate. As we round, a corner we’re suddenly faced by the biggest group of walkers I’ve seen and we now know why it was so quiet, they’d all gathered together in one spot.

The horses whinny and rear on their hind legs. I make sure Sophia is clinging on as we both bolt back the way we came as the walkers start to follow. We get back and around the tank we passed only to find more walkers have appeared and they suddenly are everywhere. They’re surrounding us and it makes me feel like the first time Sophia and I left our house but so much worse. The horses panic and throw Sophia and I off as the walkers then bring it down and start their feeding frenzy. I grab Sophia and make my way over to Rick on the ground too now. There didn’t seem to be a way out as the walkers swarmed around us. 

“Go. Under the tank!” I yelled as Rick starts to go under and I push Sophia under in front of me. I begin to crawl under and hear that they’re following us under here too. I look around and start kicking them as hard as I can in the heads when I hear Rick start shooting at ones his end.

As his gunshots stop, he shouts “In here!” I turn back around to see him pulling Sophia into the tank through a belly hatch and I crawl up and in myself, slamming and wielding the hatch shut. Sophia is hysterically crying and both Rick and I are panting, I hold Sophia trying to calm her when Rick shoots his gun off in the tank, killing a walker that moves next to him, causing a painful ring in our ears. I notice him climb up to the hatch on top of the tank, only to slam it shut soon after. As the ringing stops, I start to hear the banging from all around the outside of the tank and I can only imagine that they’re climbing all over the tank. Shit. Morgan was right.

We just sit there. Not knowing what to do. Sharing glances of desperation. Not saying a word as Sophia begins to calm and stop crying next to me. Rick looks at me as if to say I’m sorry just as suddenly a static begins. Then a voice comes through it.

“Hey you. Yeah, you two dumbasses in the tank. Cosy in there?” a male voice says. Looking over at the radio in shock, not knowing if this was real but judging by Rick’s face mirroring mine, it seemed it was, the voice started up again.

“Hey, you alive in there?” We both crawl for the radio and Rick grabs it first and starts talking back to the voice, who apparently saw what happened.

“You’re surrounded by walkers. That’s the bad news.” Starting to get a little annoyed at this man’s comments, I grab the radio from Rick saying exasperated, “Yeah no shit, got any good news?”.

“No.” Is all the voice says. We share an annoyed look with each other and Rick grabs the radio back. The voice lets us know that pretty much all but one ‘geek’ as he called them has got off the tank and joined others feeding on our horses. He starts explaining a possible escape route from the tank and away from the walkers.

“Jump off the right side of the tank, keep going in that direction. There’s an alley up the street, maybe fifty yards. Be there.” Rick asks him his name as I get Sophia ready to leave but he says we don’t have time and I couldn’t agree more. Rick looks around for any weapons and finds a grenade. I give him a little concerned look as he pockets it but, again, we don’t have the time.

“I’ll go up, kill the walker on the tank, you help Sophia up and cover our backs. I’ll make sure the front is clear.” He nods and I open the hatch above and unsheathe my sword and slice the walkers head off as it moves towards me. Once I’m out, I jump down off the tank and turn to see Sophia out the hatch and Rick beginning to climb out. I motion for her to jump to me. I catch her and keep her behind me as we start off towards the right as the voice told us. Running up the street I cut down walkers getting too close as I hear Rick shooting at ones behind us. I slice one last walker as we come up to an alleyway and I go to swing at a body that appears in the way until I hear it speak.

“Woah! Not dead! Come on! Come on!” A guy yells beckoning us into the alleyway as we continue to run and follow him. Rick continues to shoot walkers coming towards us from both ends of the alleyway as the guy starts climbing a ladder connected to one of the buildings. I get Sophia to start climbing after him, telling her quickly, quickly as she begins to climb. The walkers get closer as I start climbing and I don’t hear Rick get on the ladder.

“What are you doing? Come on!” I shout immediately. I hear him begin to climb and it’s just in time as the walkers gather around the bottom of the ladder. We reach a platform and catch our breath, looking down at the dead below. I check over Sophia, making sure she wasn’t touched as the guy starts talking to Rick.

“Nice moves there, Clint Eastwood. You the new sheriff? Come riding in to clean up the town?” Normally that would have been a comment I would have at least smiled at, but this wasn’t the time.

“Wasn’t my intention.”

“Yeah, whatever. Yeehaw. You’re still a couple of dumbass.” The guy says as I turn back to them and join looking back down at the dead. 

“Rick. This is Y/N and Sophia. Thanks.” He holds his hand out to shake. The guy takes it.

“Glenn. You’re welcome.” During their exchange, more concerned of how to get out of here, I see the platform has a ladder continuing up the whole way of the building to the roof.  
“We can’t stay here. We’ve got to climb.” They look up at the ladder and Glenn, who now I’ve looked at properly for the first time doesn’t seem much older than twenty, points out “Bright side. It’ll be the fall that kills us. I’m a glass half full kind of guy.” He starts to climb and I think that I’m actually starting to like this guy.

We start running across the roofs of buildings, following Glenn as Rick starts asking him questions. I try to help Sophia keep up as we head towards a hatch opening into a building. As Glenn takes his back off, throwing it in and starting to go down inside himself, Rick asks “Back at the tank, why’d you stick your neck out for us?”

“Call it foolish, naïve hope, that if I’m ever that far up shit creek, somebody might do the same for me. I guess I’m an even bigger dumbass than both of you.” He disappears climbing down into the building and I look to Rick as Sophia begins climbing down, knowing that is pretty much what I said back in the station car to Rick.


	9. nine

We make it into a building after Glenn had radioed someone on a walkie. As we descended some stairs, two people kitted up in protective gear came running out an exit door from a building and attacked the couple walkers blocking our way. Glenn and Rick ran in first, Sophia and I right behind. Now, Rick has a gun in his face being held by some blonde woman calling him a ‘son of a bitch’. 

“You know, I ought to kill you both.” The woman says looking at Rick and side eyeing me. Another man in the group tells the woman, called Andrea, to chill out and back off.

“Ease up.” A woman tells her. 

“Ease up. We’re dead because of these stupid assholes.” It’s as she talks I realise her guns safety is on and I wonder if she even knows. The others tell her to back off again and I realise they’re panicking because Rick was shooting off rounds making a lot of noise, no doubt ruining their exit plan. She pulls away saying we’re dead, repeatedly, because of us.

This group we’ve suddenly found ourselves with starts walking us through the building explaining to us what it is we’ve done wrong, although I know exactly what, Rick doesn’t seem to. They bring us to see the front entrance of the building which is crawling with walkers and as Andrea put it, “You just rang the dinner bell.” Which seems to hit the nail on the head. The walkers banging on the glass will surely give way anytime soon and I can already see cracks. I listen to them all talk at once at us asking what we were doing, Rick explaining the helicopter which they seem to dismiss all too easily, though from the looks of the city I don’t blame them.

“I saw it.” Rick states. “I saw it too.” I repeat, backing him up to show we weren’t crazy but the subject quickly changes when one of the men asks another called T-dog to try the CB to contact the others.

“Others?” rick asks.

“The Refugee Centre?” I add.

One of the women says sarcastically “Yeah, The Refugee Centre. They got biscuits waiting at the oven for us.” Although upon entering the city my hope for the place plummeted, I still didn’t appreciate the tone.

“Got no signal. Maybe the roof.” The man called T-Dog says when a gunshot is suddenly heard. Everyone looks around when Andrea says “Oh God, was that Dixon?” and they make a run towards the noise. All I can think is, there’s another person in this group somewhere as Glenn beckons us to follow. 

More shots go off as we make our way up the stairwell to the roof of the building and coming onto it I see a man shooting off his rifle down at the walkers on the street below. The group call at him but he laughs, “Hey, you ought to be more polite to a man with a gun. Huh. Only common sense.” He jumps down from the edge, and I see he’s a real southern redneck with a bad attitude to match as I watch him argue with the group, most of all with T-dog. He then tries provoking T-Dog making a racist comment which sets him off angered as he swings to punch the man but he dodges it and smacks T-Dog in the jaw with his rifle sending him to the ground. 

They start fighting as the group call at him to stop; Rick tries to step in and gets punched by him too. I tell Sophia to step back as I make my way towards the man they call Merle. He’s beating T-Dog, sitting over him and suddenly pulls his gun out on his face, as I come up behind him, resting against him as I bring my sword around leaning it on his throat as I say “Let him go.” In his ear. He releases his grip on T-dog, who moves towards the others as Merle slowly rises, my sword still to his throat as I rise with him.

“Now who might you be little lady.” 

“I’ll tell you if you stop acting like an asshole.”

“Ohh, well, I’ll consider it if you lower the sword there darlin’.” He says seeming amused and against my better judgment, I lower my sword and step towards the group coming into Merle’s eyeline.

“Ooo-weee. Now what do we have here. We got ourselves a young hot broad wielding a sweet as piece of metal. You’re a sight for sore eyes missy.” Everyone just looks at him in either disgust or anger, not saying a word. 

“What’s your name, little lady?”

“Y/N.”

“Well, Y/N, you can listen to this here too. Let’s talk about who’s in charge.” I feel Sophia clinging to me from behind as Merle starts chatting off about him being the man in charge now, waving his gun around, when Rick knocks him on his ass from behind and quickly handcuffs him to a pipe.

“Who the hell are you man?” Merle grunts as Rick holds him by his collar.

“Officer Friendly.” Rick retorts and I try to hide my smirk at his use of the nickname I called him in the car. Rick talks at Merle, trying to get some sense into him though Merle just jokes it off or gets angry. Rick walks off to the edge of the roof, looking extremely frustrated so I walk over to make sure he’s holding it together. 

“Rick, you alright?” I ask as he’s holding his hand he punched Merle with as he is shouting obscenities at us in the background.

He nods. “You did good talking him down. Got me that opening to restrain him.” 

I shrug it off. There’s a small pause. “Officer friendly huh.” I point out smiling. He looks at me and we both chuckle as one of the men from the group approaches us.  
“You’re not Atlanta PD. Where you from?” he asks Rick, looking at us both.

Rick looks to me before he simply puts, “Up the road a ways.”

“Well, Officer Friendly, from up the road a ways, welcome to the big city. You two, Samurai.”

I scoff at the nicknames. “One of those nicknames is gonna stick. And it’s not gonna be mine.” I pat Rick’s shoulder smirking as turn to walk back over to Sophia with the others.

Still on the roof, the group tries radioing the rest of theirs, to no end. They say they have people on the outside of the city, but as Andrea pointed out there’s nothing they could do anyway. They don’t know where we are in a huge city and it’s turned out The Refugee Centre is just another hopeless dream. We’re back to being on our own again. Although, I take the win of finding a group. Albeit, a small and slightly divided group, but they seem harmless enough and if they have more people. Well, it’s a win to me. We just have to find a way out of the city.

“So, we’re on our own. Up to us to find a way out.” Rick concludes.

“Good luck with that. These streets ain’t safe in this part of town from what I hear.” Merle chimes in but everyone ignores him. Until his attention is turned back to me making it hard for me to do the same.

“Hey, honey bun, what say you get me out of these cuffs, we go off somewhere and bump some uglies. Gonna die anyway.” I roll my eyes at the sheer mention of it.

“I’d rather.” I coolly reply to which earns me an insult of, “Rug muncher. Figured as much.” From Merle.


	10. ten

The group were down at the bottom of the building enacting our only plausible plan we’d come up with that had a hope of working. It seemed crazy but it had a chance of working. Rick and Glenn were gonna cover themselves in walker blood and guts to mask their smell, in the hopes that they would be able to slip through the streets undetected if they moved slowly. If they could get to the trucks on a nearby construction site, that Rick pointed out would always have keys on hand in their trucks, they could draw the walkers away from the building and make an escape.

I decided to stay on the roof with Sophia, not wanting her down there and it meant someone was keeping an eye on Merle, as everyone else went down to help the two with the plan and considering what it was, I wasn’t too bothered at being left with Merle. His crude comments I could handle. The smell of walker guts, I didn’t want to find out if I could handle or not.

Merle hadn’t stopped talking at me, since the other left. I’d ignored him as long as I could, hoping he’d shut up after a while, getting bored. But no. it didn’t deter him in the slightest.

“So, little lady, this one here looks an awful lot like you, she your sister or somethin’? Both pretty young things aren’t ya.” I ignore him still.

“Where’d you both come from anyhow, just riding up here with the pig down there. You his side piece until he finds that wife and son of his. Let me tell you baby, you’d have a whole lotta more fun with your ol’ pal Merle here, hmm. Or you one of those picky pretty whores, huh?”

“Do you ever shut up, Merle?” I keep my voice low, as not to show that he’s annoying me.

“Oohhh, she finally speaks. I’m telling ya, I could show you a good time, if you just let me out of these cuffs here, huh, what do ya say?” he smiles at me like he believes he’s truly convincing me. 

“What do you want me to do, chew through them, I don’t have the key, Merle.”

“Mm, I like it when they bite back.” He laughs to himself.

“You put yourself in those cuffs, acting like the fool, being a complete ass. Now you’re crying to me to let you out of em. If you weren’t such an asshole, you wouldn’t be in them and the group would probably, well, just tolerate you, instead of hating you.”

“You think those fools ever gone like me, respect me, I’m the shit on their shoes to them. Screw the lot of ‘em.”

“Being an asshole doesn’t have to be the only thing that you are Merle. You don’t have to like the group but if you become a team player, they’ll respect you for it. And you won’t be handcuffed to roofs.” I don’t expect what I say to go into Merle’s head but I try all the same.

“You’re an interesting one you know that girly, not just a pretty face, with a pretty sword. You seem like trouble.” I think for a second, that has got to be the closest thing Merle has said to a complement or just the first slightly positive remark I’ve heard him say since I learned his name. But it’s soon dismissed when he adds to it.

“Trouble I wouldn’t mind having knelt-,” Merle starts with a sly grin on his face.

Suddenly, the group come bounding back onto the roof, cutting Merle off to my relief not wanting Sophia to hear whatever was gonna come out his foul mouth. I stand to join them at the roof edge and follow their line of sight, knowing Rick and Glenn were now making their way into the street. All the while Merle asking what’s going on as no one felt the need or want to fill him in on what was currently happening.

Morales looks through the binoculars trying to locate the two of them as T-Dog tries the CB radio again. There’s a rumble of thunder and can’t help but notice a grey cloud has suddenly formed above us. I think to myself, I just hope they get to those trucks before any rain falls; it’ll surely wash the smell off their jackets. Though, I pray its string enough that it doesn’t. 

“There.” Morales points them out and we can see them slowly making their way through the walkers, undetected. 

“That asshole’s out on the street with the handcuff keys? Merle blurts out, I turn around thinking that he does actually have a point. If something happened to Rick, he’d be stuck to that pipe while we’d escape and as much as Merle is an ass, that was something even he didn’t deserve. My thoughts were stopped though when I saw T-Dog hold up a little key, the ones for the handcuffs, when a voice comes through his radio and things seem to happen all at once.

“Hello. Hello. Reception’s bad on this end. Repeat, repeat.” A male voice comes through the radio.

T-Dog tries getting through to the voice on the other side as we all watch helplessly, but they don’t seem to be getting much of what he’s saying on their end and the signal cuts out just as suddenly as it appeared. We turn back to resume our watch over the two in the street when I feel raindrops start to fall on my skin and begin to fall heavily down over us and the surrounding area. The others start to look worried and panic, but I try to reassure them, and myself.

“It’s just a cloudburst. It’ll pass really quick. They should be fine.”

“We hope.” Andrea solemnly points out.


	11. eleven

All we could do was watch as Rick and Glenn had to start taking down walkers and make their way to the construction site. They climbed the fence and made it over, making a beeline for the trucks. Rick started shooting at walkers that tried getting over the fence as Glenn seemed to fetch the keys for a truck. They drive out the site as walkers break the fence and it looks like they’re leaving us. Everyone is quick to believe that they’d do that, but I don’t see Rick doing that. I had to believe that.

Not long after, we hear a car alarm not stopping in the distance when Glenn comes over the walkie. I knew they wouldn’t leave. 

“Those roll-up doors at the front of the store facing the street. Meet us there and be ready.” Glenn blurts out quickly through the walkie. We all rush to grab everything and start to leave.

“Hey, you can’t leave me here.” Merle calls out as we start to rush over to the exit. Hearing him, I look back to see T-Dog isn’t unlocking Merle and is right behind us rushing to leave. I usher Sophia towards the exit with Jacqui telling her to go with her, that I’ll be right behind her. Jacqui grabs her hand before she can protest, taking Sophia with her out the exit and I turn holding my hands out to stop T-Dog from rushing past me as Merle continues his yelling not leave him.

“T-Dog we can’t leave him! It’s ain’t right!” I shout as he looks at me in panic and desperation, knowing he shouldn’t but wanting to get the hell out of there as quick as possible. I can see him debating what to do, over Merle’s incessant shouting and my plea. He grunts in frustration as he turns back for Merle and I follow him but as he drops the bags approaching the steps and gets the out his pocket but he trips over himself, moving too fast, rushing on the steps. He falls to the ground, dropping the radio he holds in his hand but also, the key. Still on the steps, after seeing him trip, I now see as the key flies through the air and lands, falling down a drain. 

Merle starts going crazy, pulling on the cuffs, blaming him for doing it on purpose. I know it was an accident, I just can’t believe it just happened. T-Dog in a panic backs away and grabs the bags he dropped, saying sorry over and over again, that it was an accident. He pushes past me.

“Y/N, come on we gotta go!” I look at Merle and to T-Dog, frozen, not knowing what the hell to do in this situation. T-Dog stops at the exit door, looking to me finding I haven’t moved. 

“I can’t leave him like this, we can’t!”

“It was an accident. There’s nothing we can do. Let’s go!” he insists. It takes all the power in me to say what I think next, but my conscience won’t let me leave a man like this, not chained up like an animal being left to be devoured.

“You go. I’m staying.” I shout.

“What!”

“Just look after Sophia. I’ll get him out. We’ll get out somehow, he knows where the camp is T-Dog. Now, just go!” he hesitates but not for long as he drops Merle’s rifle and leaves. I rush over the grab the rifle and see the door slam but the hear chain rattling following it. I can’t open it and I realise that T-Dog must have chained the door shut so those walkers can’t get onto the roof when they eventually break through those entrance doors. As Merle continues shouting, for a split second as I stand there, I close my eyes hoping that I didn’t just make a huge mistake. 

All the while ignoring Merle, who’s still calling out shit to the others, I hear the car alarm getting louder and then start getting quieter as it drives past the building distracting the walkers away. I rush to the edge to see what’s happening. The walkers take the bait and are started to head towards the sound of the car alarm. A truck from the other side of the street comes towards the building and into the side soon after and it’s not long before it drives out again and heads off for outside of the city, leaving my eyesight. Shit. Maybe this was a mistake.

Now it was just me on a rooftop with a chained up man, with no key. What the hell did I think I was gonna be able to do. I couldn’t believe I’d just stayed like that for a man, no an ass, I’d only met not even a few hours ago. This was the first time I’d be away from Sophia and I instantly regretted it. In the moment I thought, she’d be with Rick, so she’d be safe. Even though, I’d only known him a couple days, I trusted him and I knew he’d look out for her. But shit. My conscience was really on one these past few months. Typical how it takes the dead walking around in a now seemingly lawless world for my trust and conscience to start weakening. Shouldn’t it be the opposite way around. Now look where it’s got me. Stuck on a roof, separated from Sophia. Fuck. This was definitely a mistake.


	12. twelve

Merle hadn’t let up on his shouting for quite a while; he eventually dialled the volume down after I’d tried calming him and explaining shouting wasn’t helping either of us, but he’d carried on waffling to himself, saying shit about all the others. I’d decided after my mini meltdown that this was the right thing to do, that staying to help was the humane thing to do. We were gonna make out of this city. Alive. 

I had soon realised that the tool bag had been knocked over and forgotten in the rush to get off the rush, that had a hacksaw in it. That was one win. Then I’d started looking around the rooftop and found another way off it, another door down into another part of the building. That was our escape route off the roof. That was another win. We just had to hope that walkers weren’t down that way too. I was going to go down and check out where it would lead us but decided against it, thinking having someone to cover you, even if it was Merle, was better than going alone. 

Coming back around to Merle I found him trying to loop the hacksaw with his belt he’d managed to get off somehow. I walked over and just grabbed it myself, not wanting to watch the struggle any longer. I went to stand next to him, not saying a word. 

“You gonna help me or what girly?” he asked having watched me grab the saw and stand in front of him motionless.

I unsheathe my sword, holding it at my side, pausing to watch him just stare in confusion. When I suddenly bring my sword down on the cuffs but nothing happened, and I didn’t want to try again if it meant blunting my sword. 

“You trying to kill me woman!” he burst out and seeing Merle’s reaction at the movement of me suddenly swinging my sword down at him, flinching and shouting, was slightly enjoyable if anything.

I perched myself next to him and started sawing at the cuffs. It was the first time I found Merle was quiet. I suddenly wasn’t sure if I liked it. The moment made me feel a little apprehensive, but I carried on sawing at the cuffs, nonetheless, wanting to get out off of that roof as soon as possible. 

Though, It didn’t take Merle too long to strike up conversation again though.

“So, girly, your kid ain’t here to get in the way no more and seeing as your breaking your ol’ pal Merle out of these here cuffs-,” he began with his sly grin.

“Let me stop you right there, Merle. You know it ain’t happening, so why keep trying.”

“What, you got something else better you think we could be doing?”

“Getting the hell outta here for a start, you ass.” I clapped back which made him chuckle. 

“I like you little lady, have done since you put your cool steal against my throat. I like a woman who’s got guts. It’d take that to stay up on this here rooftop, like you did.” I don’t reply that time, but it didn’t stop him as usual.

“Now see, I’m just the littlest bit curious as to why you didn’t run off with them sons of bitches, especially since they got the mini girly there with em. Huh.”

“I can still leave you here if you want Merle.” 

“Nah, nah, you answer the damn question, don’t you dance around it, little lady.”

I sigh, not wanting to give Merle the satisfaction of any reasoning behind my motives for staying but I know he’ll push until he gets out of me.

“I couldn’t leave a man, even an asshole such as you, chained up like an animal left for the slaughter. It didn’t feel right and in the moment it didn’t sit right with me to rush off and leave. Even if you probably wouldn’t have done the same if it were me cuffed to this pipe.”

“And that girly is another reason why I like ya, you couldn’t stand to leave ol’ Merle behind, cause you knew it weren’t right. And who’s to say I wouldn’t have done the same, huh. Leaving a pretty thing like you behind would be a damn shame and waste, darlin’.” I just looked up at him unconvinced with my eyebrows raised as I sawed, while he laughed yet again. I realised that I found myself a little amused and I thought, have I really been stuck with Merle so long, alone, that I’ve started to find him slightly amusing. Shit. 

I felt like I was sawing those cuffs for hours and I was getting nowhere. The blade had barely done anything to the metal and the saw seemed to be just turning blunt the more I tried. Merle had taken over, having a go himself when it soon turned dark as night began to fall. I was sat against the edge of the roof opposite Merle watching him get nowhere too with the cuffs, so I urged him to stop and rest. Knowing even if he did break free from the cuffs, it’d be too dangerous trying to get out of here at night. He didn’t listen at first but after a few minutes I heard the saw clang against the ground from him throwing it away in anger. I found myself feeling sorry for him. Merle. Now I had gone soft.

“We’ll figure it out tomorrow, Merle.” There was a long pause before he replied.

“You know what you gotta do here, girly. You gotta take that sword of yours and bring it down once more. Just on a different spot.” He spoke almost softly but still rough.

“I said we’ll figure it out. It won’t come to that. Just shut up and sleep.” I snapped before falling into a sleep soon after.


	13. thirteen

It was morning back at the camp outside of the city, when the group saw and heard Daryl come back into camp, calling after his brother Merle. They all knew what had happened as the Atlanta group had arrived back the day before while Daryl was still out on his hunt and he’d only just returned. Everyone watched him as he made his way through the camp calling out for his brother with no reply.

“Merle. Merle. Get your ass out here.” 

Shane and the other men followed him back into the camp after finding a walker eating a deer on the camp’s edge, that Daryl had evidently been tracking. 

“Got us some squirrel. Let’s stew ‘em up.”

“Daryl, slow up a bit. I need to talk to you.” Shane, Rick’s partner at the station back when world didn’t have the dead in it, calls out to Daryl.

“About what?”

“About Merle. There’s a, uh, there was a problem in Atlanta.” Shane starts coolly explaining. Daryl looks around at everyone, aware that they’re all watching him now before he responds.

“He dead?”

“Not sure.” Shane calmly but simply states.

“He either is or he ain’t.” Daryl raises his voice, annoyed at the vague answer about his brother.

“No easy way to say this so I’ll just say it.” Rick says as he walks towards Daryl to face him, for when he tells Merle’s brother what he did to him.

“Who are you?”

“Rick Grimes.”

“Rick Grimes, you got something to tell me?” Daryl mocks as he addresses this man he’s never met.

“Your brother was a danger to us all. So I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him there to a piece of metal. He’s still there.” T-Dog walk back into camp from the opposite side bringing in some firewood as he catches the conversation and spots an increasingly mad Daryl, who starts to pace as he begins to raise his voice.

“Hold on. Let me process this. You’re saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof, and you left him there?” Shouting at Rick by the end of it.

“Yeah, but my-,” before Rick can finish his answer, Daryl chucks the squirrels he killed from his hunt at Rick and steps to go for him, but Shane shoves him forcibly to the floor. T-Dog drops the wood rushing over. Daryl unsheathes his knife whilst still on the floor.

“Watch the knife.” T-Dog points out as Daryl gets up to swing it at Rick who dodges it and catches his arm, as Shane comes up behind Daryl getting him in a chokehold.

“You’d best let me go.” Daryl grunts in frustration as Shane retorts “Nah, I think it’s better if I don’t.”

“Uh, chokehold is illegal.” Daryl says as he struggles against Shane’s grip. 

“Hey, file a complaint.” Daryl continues to struggle. “Hey, come on now. We can keep this up all day.” Shane points out.

“I’d like to have a calm discussion on this topic. Do you think we can manage that?” Rick sternly says whilst crouching down to Daryl’s level while still in the chokehold. He repeats himself but Daryl doesn’t respond regardless. Shane lets go of him and Rick continues explaining himself.

“What I did was not on a whim. Your brother does not work and play well with others.”

“It’s not Rick’s fault. I had the key. I dropped it.” T-Dog interjects, a look of guilt on his face.

“You couldn’t pick it up?” Daryl exasperates at him.

“Well, I dropped it in a drain.” He adds.

Daryl scoffs and stands up, still very agitated. He starts walking away past T-Dog.

“If it’s supposed to make me feel better, it don’t.” he blurts out as he walks by. 

“Maybe this will.” Daryl stops to listen. “Someone stayed there with him, she chose to. She couldn’t leave him like that, so she stayed to try help him. As I left, I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn’t get at them, with a padlock.” T-Dog explains. 

“It’s gotta count for something. And the woman who stayed, she’s a friend of mine. She’s strong, she’ll help him. She saved me before.” Rick adds.

Daryl gets emotional, on the verge of tears but reigns it in knowing they’re all watching him.

“Hell with all y’all. Just tell me where he is so that I can go get him.” He says deflated, trying to cover his emotions but not well.

“He’ll show you. Isn’t that right?” Lori, Rick’s wife, chimes in, looking at him.

“I’m going back. I have to.” Rick announces to the group. Daryl says nothing, just walks off to get ready, regardless of who’s coming or not. Rick sighs and heads to his tent to change.

Coming back out ready, Shane waits for him to approach.

“So that’s it, huh? You’re just gonna walk off? To hell with everybody else? Shane questions.

“I’m not saying to hell with anybody. Not to you, Shane. Lori least of all.” Rick answers.

“Tell her that.”

“She knows.” Rick walks further into the middle of camp as Shane follows him not finished with the conversation.

“Well, look I, I don’t. Okay, Rick. So could you just, could you throw me a bone here, man? Could you just tell me why? Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon? Shane demands.

“Hey, choose your words more carefully.” Daryl points out.

“Oh no, I did. Douche bag is what I meant. Merle Dixon. He wouldn’t give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst.” Shane argues.

Rick counters, growing frustrated with Shane protests. “What he would or wouldn’t do doesn’t interest me. I can’t let a man die of thirst. Me. Thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That’s no way for anything to die, let alone a human being. And I left my friend back there. She’s a good woman, separated from her own family to help another. She saved my life, if it weren’t for her I’d be dead and I would never have found Lori, Carl, you. I owe it to her to do the same.”


	14. fourteen

I had woken up to the mumbles of Merle, quietly chattering to himself. He seemed to have gone a little delirious. No doubt a result of the mix of the heat and a lack of food and water, guessing he maybe hadn’t eaten in days. From the position of the sun, it seemed to be late morning and I wondered how I didn’t wake earlier being on this roof, Merle clearly had. I must have needed the sleep I guessed. 

I crawl my way over to him to begin sawing at the cuffs again. Merle kept chattering like he was crazy and with and the now completely blunt saw, it didn’t take me long to lose my patience at these seemingly industrial cuffs we faced. Frustrated I walked away, towards the edge of the roof and saw that a lot of the walkers that were around these buildings were gone from yesterday. There was still some, but a significantly large amount had walked off somewhere else in the city. I thought about the ones at the entrance doors yesterday and that perhaps they hadn’t found their way up to the roof or they’d left the building and wandered off somewhere else too.

I turned to look back at Merle who was just sat there laughing to himself; it had felt like we had been stuck up here for so long now, even though it was only just drawing near to a day. I wondered if perhaps the group would come back for us. If they made it to their people and were preparing to come back. My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of banging on the chained door, accompanied by snarling and then Merle moving on from his crazy chattering to hysterical yelling, pulling on the cuffs.

Walkers were at the chained exit, pushing on the door, their arms poking through the crack the chain allowed. It can’t be all of them from yesterday breaking into the building, but it would be a group of them from it that stuck lingering around and only now have stumbled upon us. I knew it was now or never because although I didn’t know exactly how many walkers were behind that door, I didn’t want to stick around to find out.

I rushed to Merle’s side, grabbing his belt that laid next to him and tightened it around his arm, knowing what I had to do, but not wanting to do it.

“Chop it!” he yells.

In panic and not wanting to slice his hand off, I swing down at the cuffs again, thinking maybe after the sawing, it might have done something for the sword to cut them but still nothing. Seeing he was still attached Merle just cried out.

“Do it woman! Cut it off!” he cries frantically.

I hesitate but in one quick motion I swing down and see his hand detach to the floor. He screams in pain but slips from the cuffs as I grab the rifle as he grabs his gun, still rightfully moaning in pain. I call for him to follow me to the other exit.

“Keep that belt on, whatever you do Merle!” I yell back to him as we finally make our own escape. 

We make our way through the building, trying to find a way out. We only come across a few walkers, that I take down in quick motions with my sword. Merle looked like he was losing a lot of blood and I knew we had to find something to cauterise the stump or he was going to pass out or worse from the blood loss. 

We managed to stumble across what appeared to be a kitchen and by some miracle, the gas on a stove still worked. Merle was already one step ahead me bringing over some kind of flat iron he found to heat up. I left it over the gas as Merle slumped down against the stove. I looked around for anything I could wrap it with after and for him to bite down on which turned out to be an old apron. He stuffed the apron in his mouth, not wanting to take the belt off yet, as I pushed the hot iron against his stump, I could see the pain in his eyes, but it was necessary. It was this or die. I wrapped the stump up in the old apron and then loosened the belt to move it up and over the apron to tighten it again, to hold it over his stump.

I was surprised when he didn’t pass out from the pain and only sat there for a couple minutes incredibly quiet when he suddenly started to get up and mutter his usual shit to himself. I was quite honestly astonished but didn’t want to dwell considering this city seemed to be a ticking time bomb wherever you were.

I tried creating a plan of escape for us to get out of the city and back to his people’s camp outside of it, but he began to protest against it.

“Why should I go back to those sons of bitches at their pussy camp, they left me, and you for that matter girly, up there on that rooftop or did you forget. We should go off, on our own, we’d make it together you know. I ain’t gonna go back to no traitorous camp and forget all about it. Nah, I ain’t got nothing at that camp.” He mentions raged.

“Well I do! We’re going to your people whether you like it or not. Sophia is there and I have to get back to her. Now you’re gonna help me do that because I stayed on that rooftop to help you or did you forget.” My voice raises in anger the more that spews out my mouth at the man.

He stares at me with a look that seems he both wants to hit me and commend me for my retaliation. 

“Alright, fine. You win girly.” I wonder why he gave in so easily but try not to think too much into it because Merle is Merle and I’ve learned you’ll never know what he’s really thinking. And just as quickly as he gave in, he turns on me just as fast, pulling his gun out and pointing it at my head as I flinch for my sword, but he steps forward with the gun.

“Woah, woah, woah, there girly. You’re gonna want to think twice about pulling that out on me a second time. It won’t go as pretty as the first. Now, hand me my there rifle you got on your back.” He says way too smug, with a smirk on his face as I hand the rifle to him. 

“Now the sword.”

“You’re not taking this sword without a fight and considering I already took one of your hands off, I’d say I got a good chance at taking the other.” I declare infuriated by how the situation has suddenly turned out.

“I may have one hand now girly, but that one is holding a gun, you sure you wanna gamble on that darlin’?”

“I don’t know, I’m pretty quick Merle.”

“Mm, it’s a shame it’s had to turn out like this little lady. You know, we would have done alright out there together.” He starts backing away as he continues, “I suppose I don’t need that sword, be a shame to not see it strapped to your fine looking ass anyway, wouldn’t it.” I don’t reply, not wanting to give him the satisfaction but he laughs at himself anyway.

He starts smashing a window to his side, to leave the building and I’m happy to let the asshole go, when I realise I need to know where the camp is, I need him to tell me. I call to him as he’s got one leg out the window and he stops to my surprise.

“At least tell me where the camp is.” I demand.

“Nah, don’t think I will girly. You see, let’s say they do come back for ya. I want them to feel all kinds of guilty for they did, and I figure finding you dead here up in this city should start it off fine.” He wears an evil smile as he explains himself.

“I stayed with you, helped you, you asshole.” 

“Guess you helped the wrong asshole then didn’t you girly.” He still wears his evil smile as he carries on climbing out the window. I scoff in anger at his comment.

“Lesson learned.” I simply snap.

“Don’t follow me now, little lady. Unless of course, you want to.” He laughs as he exits the window not stopping despite his comment.

“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t follow you anywhere.” I call out as he vanishes out the window.

Fuck. What now? 

I paced around the room. Not really knowing what to do. I was free to leave the city, if I could, but my map just screwed me over. I tried thinking what the best first move was. Getting out of the city was an obvious one but then it begged the question of at which point of the city do I leave. I had no idea where to start looking for the camp. So, I figured to start somewhere else. On something else. The guns. Rick had dropped the bag back at the tank when we were thrown from the horses. They still had to be there. That’s where I’d start.


	15. fifteen

I’d found my way back to the tank. Or just before it. I knew I couldn’t go back the way I came so I braved going out onto the streets. I remembered seeing some walkers below from the rooftop but there wasn’t so many I would get surrounded, I wouldn’t make noise and they were scattered, making it easy to run and kill any that stumbled too close. Most of the walkers would have been drawn off from the car alarm and hopefully stayed away from my general area. I told myself it was an easy run. I had to. 

I’d made it to the alleyway Glenn had led us to previously. I peered round the corner to see more walkers stumbling around than I cared for but if I got to the bag mostly undetected it would make coming back to the alleyway a lot easier, keeping the walkers scattered instead of following me towards the bag. I waited for an opening for a straight shot run along the sidewalk, which was mostly blocked by cars and wreckage from the road and provided cover from majority of the walkers. When the moment presented itself I bolted, sword in hand. I made my way behind the cars, along the path, trying to keep a speedy but stealthy pace whilst also keeping quiet. Getting close to the tank, I jumped the sandbags just before it and spotted the guns still laying on the road in front of it. I ran straight for them, scooping the bag up and as I started to run off, I spot Rick’s sheriff hat. I turn back and pick it up then continued to bolt back to the alleyway, noticing walkers were all starting in my direction. Once I passed the sandbags I didn’t care to be stealthy, I just ran.

I neared the corner for the alleyway but not stopping my speed, I didn’t care if I’d outrun the walkers or not. As I rounded the corner, I ran straight into something making me fall backwards and dropping the bag and hat. I rose to my feet, ready to kill what I assumed was a walker when I saw it was Glenn rising off the floor. 

“Glenn!” I immediately dropped my sword as a smile etched across my face, completely ignoring the guy behind that was with him.

“Holy s-,” he couldn’t finish his words before I hugged him, thankful it was his face I saw. I didn’t hold the hug long when I finally did notice the man behind him, wielding a crossbow, not recognising him from the group before. So, I figured he must have been from the camp which means they made it back and Sophia hopefully too.

“You-you got the guns!” Glenn blurted, sounding surprised as he looked at the bag.

“Yeah I got the guns.” I brush it off, now not caring about them as I continue not taking a breath “Sophia? She alright?”

“Yeah, she’s fine but how did you-,” Glenn is cut off by some kid who’s appeared in the alleyway, coming close to us from the other end, starting to shout something in Spanish. Glenn turns as the guy with the crossbow spins round, aiming it at the kid, shouting right back at him. I keep a firm grip on my sword as the kid shouts again when the guy swings his crossbow, hitting the kid round the face and pins him down, trying to cover his mouth to shut him up. It’s just then that someone grabs Glenn from behind as they kick my sword out my hand, sending it flying forwards across the ground. They whack me in the back with a bat before I can move to react, sending me to the floor on my front and hitting me again. They grab me off the floor and start pulling me backwards, as some other guy does the same to Glenn, out the alleyway. However, they shout something in Spanish to each other and Glenn calls out for Daryl when his attacker hits him over the head and stops to go for the bag of guns. Daryl, who must be the crossbow guy, shoots the guy going to pick up the guns in the ass and he cries out in pain, but it doesn’t stop him from dragging Glenn to a car behind me. They hold us over their bodies like shields as put us in the car that suddenly pulled up. They kill a few walkers that have got to the alleyway but quickly get into the car too as it drives off and I’m hit over the head when everything goes black.


	16. sixteen

As I start to come to, I see Glenn opposite me, his mouth taped, hands tied and I start to feel that I’m the exact same. I look around to see we’re on top of some building with a couple guys watching us. Great. Another rooftop. Now that all my senses had caught up with each other, I started hearing voices from down below the building. One of whose sounded like Rick’s. 

Someone calls out loud and we’re both suddenly being pulled towards the edge of the roof. As I look down, I see Rick and the crossbow guy, Daryl, holding their weapons at the same kid from the alleyway in front of them whilst negotiating with whoever the hell these guys are. I’m not sure what happens next as a bag is put over my head. I assumed we were going to be sat back down on the roof, but they take us inside the building as we’re taken through a door and down some stairs from the roof. I know Glenn is behind me because I can hear him squirming under the grip of whoever is leading him. I try to remain calm. Until I start hearing light chatter and faint coughing. Now, I wasn’t calm, I was simply confused. This didn’t sound like a gang’s hideout at all. 

They sat us down in this room and when they removed the bags on our heads, what I saw was not at all what I had expected. I could see Glenn looked equally shocked and even more relieved. We were in a room full of the elderly. It looked like a care home common room or something. 

“Okay. Now this, is weird right?” Glenn whispers to me.

“Yeah. Definitely not what I expected.” I whisper back, turning to look at him as I try to cover my snort, Glenn doing the same. 

The guys who brought us down off the roof watched us but never said or did anything to us. Instead, they let the elderly residents talk to us as they pleased. Some simply ignored us and a few asked after us, who we were, why we were here, etc. It certainly was strange and although I didn’t feel threatened, I didn’t exactly want to stay. 

The guys that were watching me and Glenn do nothing in this room for so long, suddenly are summoned away. It made me think that Rick and Daryl were probably back with whatever deal was made or back with nothing and a fight. Still sitting next to each other, I nudge Glenn, my eyes following the men leave the room. He follows my eyeline but before we can say one word, an elderly man suddenly starts to lose his breath. Other residents come over to him in a panic. Glenn and I look at each other not knowing whether to stand and go over or remain seated. A guy can’t seem to find his medicine to help him with his asthma attack which throws the man and other residents into more of a panic. An elderly woman leaves the room as I get up to go over, with Glenn deciding to follow. There wasn’t anything we could do but sitting and watching just felt odd, so we stood with the other residents. 

Shortly after the elderly woman left the room, she soon returned with a man that I recognised from the alleyway, beating on Glenn. He started aiding the man with his inhaler as Glenn and me, along with other residents watched. Glenn nudges me and when I turn to face him I see Rick diagonal from us in the circle around this man, not looking the most impressed. T-Dog and Daryl stood to the side of us too. 

“What the hell is this?” Rick asks, looking to us.

“An asthma attack. Couldn’t get his breath all of a sudden.” Glenn quickly answers.

“Thought you were both being eaten by dogs, man.” T-Dog blurts out.

Glenn and I look behind us at these three chihuahuas that all sat in a bed together we’d noticed earlier in the room. The others followed our eyeline, again, not looking impressed and I had to hide my smile behind Glenn as Rick pulled the lead man off to the side, not happy. 

As they talked, the man Daryl stepped towards me with determination. 

“Where’s my brother?” he asks sternly.

“Brother?” I realise Daryl is clearly asking about Merle, but I’m surprised to hear that he had family back at this camp and I can’t help but start to wonder if Daryl is better or worse than Merle.

“Yeah, my brother Merle. Where’s he at? I found his hand; you do that to him?”

“Yeah, I did. I stayed with that asshole, put up with shit whilst trying to help him and then when walkers were trying to get onto the roof, he asked me to do it. Then, after helping him again, he turned on me when I mentioned going back to camp. I believe he said I ain’t gonna go back to no traitorous camp and forget all about it. That were was nothing for him back at the camp anyway.”

I could see that last comment struck a nerve in Daryl and I knew it would because it was why I was surprised Merle had a brother. If he had a brother within this group, how could he say there was nothing for him back at the camp for him. As I said it, clearly hurt, he looked down away from my gaze as I continued.

“All I wanted to know from him was where the camp was and the son of a bitch wouldn’t even tell me that. He chose to leave, and leave me for dead, was his words, when I didn’t want to go with him, saying it would make the group feel all the more guilty about leaving when they found me dead. That’s some brother you got.” I walk away feeling angered just from explaining what happened, following after Rick, who I we see is going off with Guillermo. The other three follow suit.

The lead man, Guillermo, takes us to private room to explain to us when this all started, all the staff left the residents here. Only a couple of them stayed, including himself and he was only the custodian of the place. Their group grew when people came to check in their parents and grandparents, and they decided to stay to help protect them. They try their best to do so from bad groups out there which is why they put on the tough act to strangers. Especially ones who have their people hostage.

“That’s not who we are.” Rick assures him.

“How was I to know? My people got attacked and you show up with Miguel hostage. Appearances.” Guillermo explains.

“Guess the world changed.” T-Dog adds.

“No. It’s the same as it ever was. The weak get taken.” I look to see everyone staring my way but I look to Guillermo, “That’s what’s happened here, right?” I chime into the conversation.

“Right. Took the words out of my mouth Chica. We do what we can here.” He finishes. 

Guillermo carries on explaining what they do with the residents and the men that help. How they keep the place safe. They can’t move the residents anywhere so they secure the place best they can, they scavenge for whatever can keep them going, they have constant perimeter watch because all they can do is just wait for the next group to come and attack or loot them. The harsh reality they face because of this new world seemed so unfair and I took pity on them. Rick seemed to feel the same, as he decided to give some of the guns and ammo out of the bag to Guillermo, which made me admire and respect him more.


	17. seventeen

On the way back to the van the guys said they drove up in, I was walking with Rick behind the others. He gave me back my sword, which I was more happy to see they’d pick it up back in the alley, and it made me think of Sophia.

“Is Sophia okay back at the camp? Is she safe? I finally ask of him.

“Yes. She’s fine. She and Carl seem to get along well actually.” He says grinning at me.

“Wait. Carl? You found them? They were with this group outside the city?” I ask happily astonished.

“Yeah. They were. I knew they were alive and we found them.” His smile bigger than ever.

There’s a pause before we talk again.

“So, admit it.” I say finally breaking the pause. “You only came back to Atlanta for the hat right?” I smile as he laughs at my joke, Glenn too, obviously overhearing from in front.  
“Don’t tell anybody.” He smiles back at me when Daryl suddenly brings reality back to the conversation.

“So, you’ve given away half our guns and ammo.”

“Not nearly half.” Rick points out.

“For what? A bunch of old farts gonna die off momentarily anyhow? Seriously how long do you think they got? Daryl argues.

“How long do any of us.” I chime in as he turns to look at me but then walks faster on ahead. I decide to jog slightly to catch up to his side, now walking ahead of the others.

“Hey, Daryl, um. Sorry about earlier. And I’m sorry about your brother.” I say sincerely.

“What for, he left your ass didn’t he.” He points out.

“Yeah, he did, but that’s not what I was talking about.” He looks towards me as I continue. “When I told you what he said, about having nothing left at the camp, I saw that poked at something. I didn’t know he had a brother, so when you said you was his, I was a little surprised that he could say that, knowing you were back there. I imagine that probably stung a little. That’s what I’m sorry about.” Daryl says nothing, looking back ahead he just shrugs. There’s a what feels like a long silence until he finally speaks. 

“Thanks, I guess. For trying. You didn’t owe him nothing. So, I’m sorry Merle was Merle.” Daryl puts bluntly, but I can see that it’s a sincere comment and from it I already know that Daryl Dixon is better than Merle Dixon. 

“Yeah. Your brother’s kinda an asshole.” Although it is completely true and I think Daryl knows that I still offer him a small smile after saying it, showing him I was just teasing a little. He just looks at me, as I hear a ‘mmhmm’. That one noise makes me think that this man is gonna take a minute to break through and I found myself, slightly excited to try which I’d never felt before. 

That’s when we turn a corner and Daryl stops staring out into the distance. The others weren’t far behind us as they stop too.

“Oh my god.” Glenn says.

“Where the hell’s our van?” Daryl questions.

“What? It was here?” I ask.

“We left it right there. Who would take it” Glenn franticly questions.

“Merle. He’s gonna be taking some vengeance back to camp.” Rick states.

“Didn’t you hear Y/N, he said there was nothing for him back at the camp, that he didn’t wanna come back.” Daryl argues, annoyance in his tone.

“Yeah, he did but. Are we sure he wouldn’t? He said he wouldn’t go back to the camp and just forget all about it. It’s the closest shelter he knows of and considering his wound, he might go back. Like Rick, said, brining a whole lot of vengeance with him. Do you think he’d do something like that?” I process as I ask Daryl at the end.

“Ain’t nobody who can predict Merle, but Merle.” he states as worry spreads across Rick’s face.

“We gotta get back to camp now. He could already be there if that’s his plan.” Already jogging off as he orders. We all begin to run, not having any other alternative than that to make it back to camp by foot and as quick as we could do it.

The run was long and tiring. It had turned dark and into night by the time they said we were even close to it but the thought of Sophia there kept me running. So, when we were almost there and suddenly we heard screams not far off, followed by gunshots, they stopped running for a second as they realised what was happening. But I didn’t have to stop or think, I just grabbed a rifle out the bag on Rick’s shoulder in pure adrenaline reflex as I just used every bit of energy I could to boost myself into a sprint towards the impending chaos that I knew Sophia was in. 

When we made it to the camp, I got in there first and in a split second I saw most of the people huddled around an RV getting surrounded by walkers but the important thing in that moment is that I saw Sophia amongst them with one of the women. I started firing at the walkers as the others came up and joined. Some men already from the camp were dotted around taking some out as we joined. The walkers seemed to just keep on coming and I dropped the gun as it run out of ammo, switching to my sword. I approached a small cluster of them coming around the RV, Taking out maybe four or five, slicing at their heads, getting a couple at a time, before moving on because they were all over the camp.

With a lot of us taking them down, it didn’t take too long until we’d killed them all. Though, it seemed the camp didn’t come out unscathed, as a few people were crying over their loved ones. I heard Sophia call my name and I instantly turned and dropped to meet her embrace as she cried into my shoulder and I held her as tight as I could, trying to hold back the tears myself.


	18. eighteen

People seemed broken by what had happened to the camp last night but no one more so than Andrea. She’d be sitting over her sister’s body all night and continued into the day, the others were getting very concerned about it. I seemed to be the only one who wanted to leave her be, let her deal with it herself, if that’s what she wanted. I know that’s what I’d have wanted if it was me. Throughout the morning, people tried to speak with her so they could try and move the body. Lori tried talking to her, but she said nothing, didn’t even look up. When Rick went over she just pulled her gun on him until, saying she knew how the safety worked, until he backed away. After what seemed like a quick debate, everyone just decided to leave her after that.

We’d been hauling bodies from all across the camp all morning. The guys had been doing all the jobs, with the dead, so I offered to help Daryl, seeing as everyone was working in a pair and he wasn’t. We had to collect the dead walkers to burn and the people they knew that were now gone, we collected to bury. Daryl and I were putting pickaxes in the dead walker’s heads around the camp, making sure they were truly not a threat before we brought them over to be burned. We ended up doing the same for the dead people, but we carried them around the corner of the RV before we did, where they’d be wrapped up, tucked away from those who didn’t want to see them. We’d started on the first couple when Carol came up. She had been looking out for Sophia while I was gone and was the one holding her last night when we arrived, so I was grateful to her and thought anything she needed I’d do for her. But when she came up to me, crying and gestured for the pickaxe, I wasn’t quite sure it was the best idea.

“I’ll do it. He’s my husband.” She said sniffling, with her hand out for the pickaxe. I handed it over to her and she braced herself before swinging it over her head into Ed’s, crying as she did it. I thought that would be it, but she continued to swing it at his head. Her cries getting louder each time, but I could see the anger growing with every swing she punctured his head with too. I was going to stop her at first but after seeing the anger, I got it. This man clearly did something to this woman and I wasn’t about to stop her from letting her anger out on him, that had most likely been bottled up for who knows how many years. 

Once Carol had surpassed her moment, Daryl and I carried on, but it wasn’t long until we were interrupted yet again by shouting about someone called Jim being bit.

“I say we put a pickaxe in his head, and the dead girls, and be done with it.” Daryl starts off the discussion about what to do with the bitten man called Jim.

“That what you’d want, if it were you?” Shane asks.

“Yeah, and I’d thank you while you did it.” Daryl answered.

“I hate to say it. I never thought I would, but maybe Daryl’s right.” Dale agrees.

“Jim’s not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog.” Rick starts.

“I’m not suggesting that-,” Dale retorts trying to defend his point that is cut off by Rick.

“He’s sick. A sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?”

“The line’s pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers, or them to be.” Daryl plainly puts it.

“What if we can get him help?” Rick questions and turns to me. “Y/N, you said you heard the CDC was working on a cure.” Rick almost looks hopeful as he looks at me.

“I did but that was back when I thought Atlanta was safe and protected. Look how that turned out. Why should the CDC be any different.” I wanted to back him but after Atlanta, I didn’t know what to believe anymore.

“I heard that too Rick. She’s right. We heard a lot of things before the world went to hell.” Shane agreed.

“What if the CDC’s still up and running?” Rick retorts, still clinging on to the hope.

“And that is a stretch right there.” Shane says.

“Why? If there’s any government left, any-any structure at all, they’d protect the CDC at all costs, wouldn’t they? I think it’s our best shot. Shelter, protection, a rescue.” Rick theorises. 

“Okay Rick. You want those things, alright? I do too, okay. Now, if they exist, they’re at the army base, Fort Benning.” Shane claims.

“That’s hundred miles in the opposite direction.” Lori points out.

“That is right, but it’s away from the hot zone. Now, listen to me. If that place is operational, it will be heavily armed. We’d be safe there.” Shane explains.

“The military were on the front lines of this thing. They got overrun. We’ve all seen that. The CDC’s our best choice, and Jim’s only chance.” Rick argues.

“Rick, I think you’re right about the military. Their vehicles, land and sky, littered Atlanta. They were sent out everywhere. That’s why I don’t think Fort Benning will be operational. They’ve all gone. Which means that any protection the CDC has is also most likely gone.” I try to reason with both of them, not liking either idea anymore after everything that’s happened so far. Things keep coming up as dead ends. 

“You go looking for aspirin. Do what you need to do.” Daryl quickly adds in and starts heading for Jim sitting by the RV. “Someone needs to have some balls and take care of this damn problem.” Daryl yells going to swing the pickaxe he’s holding at Jim as Rick cocks his gun at Daryl’s head.

“Hey. Hey. Hey.” Shane shouts trying to deescalate him, standing between Jim and Daryl.

“We don’t kill the living.” Rick says.

“It’s funny, coming from a man who just put a gun to my head.” Daryl points out.

“We may disagree on some things. Not on this. You put it down. Go on.” Shane orders Daryl, who begrudgingly puts the pickaxe down. Rick takes Jim into the RV so he’s safe from others.

After the dead had been sorted, all that was left was to wrap them up to be buried. All of course, except Amy. Who Andrea was still sitting over. I knew she didn’t want to be talked to, or told what to do, but I wanted to let her know someone was there for her, without doing exactly that.

I made my way slowly up to them, be cautious on my approach. I sat down on the other side of Amy, Andrea not looking at me at all, but I considered that no gun in my face was good. I put my hands into a water bucket, pulling out a wet cloth, I rung it out and gestured for Andrea to take. She finally looked up at me, understanding what I was offering her, and took the wet cloth, beginning to wipe her arms softly and slowly. I got my own wet cloth and joined her, mirroring her placement, wiping clean Amy’s arm on my side. We didn’t talk, we just sat and cleaned the blood off her body until she was as clean as we could get her. I took the wet cloth from Andrea and she said thank you as I squeezed her hand in comfort before I stood up to leave, hoping that had comforted her in any way possible. 

It wasn’t long after, that Amy reanimated and Andrea didn’t kill her right away but talked to her, though we couldn’t hear what she was saying. She held her the whole time before she eventually shot her in the head. Cradling her body one more time, before she looked round directly towards me. She didn’t have to ask. I knew she wanted me to help her and no one else. 

We bury all the bodies, hosting a funeral for them, best we can, though not much was said. Just the sounds of tears, sniffles, or silence from people. Everyone’s quiet back at the camp after too. The kids are too sad to play and the adults are either physically tired or emotionally drained, or both.

The silence is broken in camp when Shane gathers us and declares that we have to stay together, to follow Rick’s plan to move onto the CDC. That we’ll leave first thing in the morning. I was surprised that Shane had agreed to it let alone been the one to announce it seeing as he seemed so set on Fort Benning. Though, I didn’t care. I was glad we were getting away from quarry camp. It was just a memory of death now and you could feel from everybody. Everyone needed a new place. We all did. But. I still wasn’t hopeful about the CDC, no matter how I tried, but I figured anything would be better than this right now.


	19. nineteen

We were on the road towards the CDC, nearly there. Morales and his family hadn’t come with us though. Deciding to go somewhere else to find their family, going our separate ways as we all left the quarry camp. Sophia had said she’d wanted to ride with Carl, which I thought was cute and liked that they’d become quick friends. I’d decided that I was gonna ask Daryl if he’d be okay if I rode with him in his truck. I knew no one else would in there with him, so it wouldn’t be cramped, and I liked that he didn’t talk much, even when spoken to. That was a blessing sometimes when I wanted to be around someone but not necessarily talk. It was something I liked about him. A comfortable silence was rare I thought. So, I was glad to see him nod to the other side of truck when I asked. But we didn’t talk for majority of the journey and like I thought, it was comfortable.

We’d stopped when the RV started having its usual problems and Jacqui had told us that Jim had made a turn for the worst. He insisted to be left by a tree, not wanting to take the pain of the rest of the journey. He wanted to be with his family. It was strange feeling and sight driving off with him sat against this tree on a hill on the side of a road. It was what he wanted, but it still felt off. But then again, the whole world was off. 

Nearing nightfall, we’d arrived at the CDC and it didn’t look promising. 

We make our way towards the front of the CDC, staying in a tight group I keep my sword in hand on the edge with the others with weapons doing the same. Sophia stays with Carol as Carl stays with Lori in the middle, along with Jacqui and Andrea. The smell in the air was rotten, there was flies everywhere from the rotting bodies littering the area. I didn’t want to be right, but it was starting to look that way.

“There’s nobody here.” T-Dog states.

“Then why are these shutters down?” Rick questions.

“Walkers.” Daryl yells. The kids start to cry as he shoots one down, turning back to yell at Rick. “You led us into a graveyard.”

“He made a call.” Dale says.

“It was the wrong damn c-,” Daryl starts shouting as Shane gets in his face saying “Shut up, you hear me? Shut up.” He quickly turns to rick.

“Rick, this is a dead end. Do you hear me? No blame.” Shane states.

“We can’t be this close to the city after dark.” I point out. 

“Fort Benning, Rick. Still an option.” Shane declares.

“On what? No food, no fuel. It’s 100 miles.” I question.

“125, I checked the map.” Glenn corrects.

“Forget Fort Benning. We need answers tonight. Now!” Lori snaps, panic showing.

“We’ll think of something.” Rick retorts, clearly worried too. 

Everyone starts talking over each other and Shane starts ushering us back to the cars as I approach Rick to get him to move. I follow his eyeline as come up behind him to see he’s staring at a camera. Just then. It moves.

“The camera, it moved.” He calls almost as soon as it does it and we’re both staring now to see if it moves again.

“You imagined it.” Dale argues behind us.

“No, I saw it too, it moved, just now.” I say backing him up.

He walks closer to the door and camera above, repeating ‘it moved’ quietly. Shane comes up next to him clearly wanting to hurry him back the cars.

“Rick, even if it did, man, it’s-it’s an automated device, man. It’s curious, okay? It’s just winding down, now come on.” He goes to pull him away, but Rick brushes his grip off and they start quietly arguing with each other. 

I look back and see more walkers have appeared and I forget the camera as I join the others in front of the group to take down any that get too close when Rick starts banging on the shutters and shouting at the camera. Pleading his case for us to be let in. Shane and Lori try to get him to leave it, but he refuses. Getting frustrated as nothing happens he starts screaming at the doors and camera, all the while everyone is talking over each other in the group, the kids are crying, and walkers are still approaching us. It’s total chaos. 

“You’re killing us!” Rick screams on repeat as Shane has to drag him away from the doors. When suddenly a blinding light comes from a door as we all turn to see it opening.

We cautiously make our way into the building through the door, there’s no one inside and it’s eerily quiet. Rick calls out hello a couple times when suddenly a gun cock echoes not from any of us. 

“Anyone infected?” A man yells.

“One of our group was. He didn’t make it.” Rick answers.

“Why are you here? What do you want?” The man asks.

“A chance.” Rick simply answers.

“That’s asking an awful lot these days.” The man says approaching us, holding his gun at us. I can’t help but silently agree with him though in my head.

“I know.” Rick says. The man looks the whole group over, I can almost feel him debating with himself inside his head. 

“You will all submit to a blood test. That’s the price of admission.” He calmly demands.

“We can do that.” Rick states.

The man lowers his gun. “You got stuff to bring in, you do it now. Once this door closes, it stays closed.” He says as he walks towards a control panel by the door. We start to bring in our supplies into the place, now knowing it’s safe and once the last bits came through the door the man sealed the door shut. Rick introduces himself to the man, who replies, “Dr. Edwin Jenner.”


	20. twenty

We had to take an elevator down underground to where Jenner walked us through into what he called ‘Zone 5’, the area he worked in. As we had made our way through, we’d learned that he was the only person here. He was all that was left in the whole place. That and his computer system, he called Vi. I guess I was right. Although, I wasn’t happy I was. 

We’d all submitted a blood test, as requested and I went last. It had reminded me that I hadn’t actually eaten in like five days, the last time I ate being at the house with Morgan, the night before we left for Atlanta, when I stumble and nearly fall when I stand and go to move from my chair, lightheaded and the lack of food not helping. Jenner had asked if I was alright as Carol had come up to aid me sit down without falling over, as Rick explained that everyone hadn’t eaten in a few days, that I hadn’t for five.

Now, I had temporarily forgotten the sombre situation, enjoying the dinner we were all eating together, at an actual table, drinking wine. Jenner had prepared us these meals upon hearing we hadn’t eaten and even brought us out wine. There was real laughter, which was something I hadn’t heard in a long while. For a while, it was pure bliss. 

“You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner. And in France.” Dale points out in as he hands Lori another glass of wine, then one over to me next to her as she replies.

“Well, and when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then.”

“What’s it gonna hurt. Come on.” Rick urges with a smile.

“Yeah. You wanna try some Sophia? You could toast with Carl.” She nods as I chuckle turning to Lori who gives in, a smile on her face also. Dale hands Carl and Sophia a tiny bit of wine in two beakers over and I swap seats with Sophia she can clink with Carl. Everyone watches as they touch their beakers together, Sophia giggling, and it’s quiet as they sip the wine. Carl is quick to retract the beaker as he grimaces and sticks his tongue out.

“Eww, that tastes nasty.” Everyone laughs as Lori smiles. “That’s my boy.” She says, pouring the remaining wine into her glass as Sophia declares “I like it!” she smiles at me, seeming quite pleased with herself. We’re all still laughing at the kid’s different reactions, “Yep. Course you do. We’re definitely related, Sophia.” Smiling back down at her.

“You-you stick to soda pop there, bud.” Shane says to Carl, the only one not smiling or laughing, well, Jenner too.

Sitting around the table, listening to the group make jokes, drinking and laughing, Glenn being coaxed into drinking a little too much by Daryl. Although I hadn’t known this group for long at all, everything that had happened over the last five days, never seemed to stop and the heavy gravity of it all seemed to bond us. I was grateful in this moment to have found a group such as this. 

The bliss somewhat faltered after Rick had stood to thank Jenner for what he’s done for us, which everyone was more than happy to raise a glass to, even getting a ‘booyah’ from Daryl, but not Shane.

“So when you gonna tell us what the hell happened here, Doc? All the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened, where are they?” He coldly interjects, the faces of the group dropping.

“We’re celebrating Shane. No need to do this now.” Rick alerts him, trying to bring him down.

“Woah, wait a second. This is why we’re here, right? This was your move. We’re supposed to, you know, find all the answers. Instead, we, uh, we found him. Found one man. Why?” The mood drastically drops as Jenner pulls himself to answer.

“Well, when things go bad, a lot of people just left. Went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun- the rest bolted.” Jenner begins.

“Every last one?” Shane asks.

“No. Many couldn’t face walking out the door. They opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time.” Jenner answers clearly pained by the memory.

“You didn’t leave. Why?” I ask him.

“I just kept working, hoping to do some good.” Jenner finishes. There’s a pause while everyone takes in everything he’d just said. So much for hope I thought.

“Dude, you are such a buzz kill, man.” Glenn tells Shane.


	21. twenty one

Jenner was taking us to where we would sleep. It wasn’t housing as he explained most of the facility is powered down to conserve it, including houses so we had to make do with couches or he had said there were cots in storage if we wanted. He’d told the kids there was a rec room down the hall they’d like, just warned them not to use anything that drew power. 

“Same applies. If you shower, go easy on the hot water.” Jenner casually finishes and walks off.

“Hot water?” Glenn turns saying to the group with a smile. I stand next to him, mirroring him.

“That’s what the man said.” I chuckle, patting him on the shoulder.

There was only so many showers, so I had to wait my turn. The kids had wanted to go first so they could play in the rec room. I decided to find a room for us to sleep in while others showered. There was also only so many rooms, which was to be expected, it wasn’t housing, and they weren’t bedrooms. It just meant some would have to share. I peeked into rooms to find others preparing the ones they’d occupied. Mostly in pairs as one prepared the couch as the other prepared the floor. I’d found Daryl laying on the couch in his, alone, noting that no one really seemed close enough with him to be around him alone and I wondered if he ever felt lonely, or preferred it that. But then I remembered he would have had Merle before, and I could understand not wanting to be near that ass. Daryl was different though, sure he was sometimes a little erratic, but in the small encounters I’d shared with him, he was pleasant. I wondered if anyone had even tried conversing with him. 

There was one room at the end of the hall that was unoccupied, it was a lot smaller than the others but I noted the couch was actually rather big. It looked big enough for both Sophia and I; if it weren’t I’d just take the floor. When I finally showered it was a silent, hot moment of heaven to myself. Washing my body and hair after the last five days of blood and sweat was incredible. I didn’t want to leave. I changed into my pair of shorts and sleep top, that I’d always found comfortable to sleep in. Morgan and I had done a run back before to our house to grab a few things once the walkers had dispersed a little after a few days. I’d grabbed only a few things, some clothes and essentials. Sophia only asking for her toy lion from Doc, which she had clung onto this whole time. I’d thought she was a little old for it now, but I guess it was a comfort and reminder of the old man we once knew and cared for.

I’d found Sophia and Carl playing in the rec room, as expected, with Carol watching over them, reading. I’d joined Carol reading, as there was an abundance of books in the room, whilst the kids played board games. A little later, Lori had come in after Carl.

“Any good books?” Amused she asked as she walked over.

“Uh-huh. Enough to keep us busy for years.” Carol replied.

Years. Although this place was safe, I wasn’t sure if I’d want to be here for years, couped up underground. But this was our first night. Take the win. Stop overthinking it, I thought.   
While I pondered, Lori had told Carl it was time for him to sleep. He of course protested, Sophia looking to me with a face that told me she didn’t want to either. Carl had asked if Sophia could sleep in their room with them and to my surprise Sophia wanted to. I could see in Lori’s face she didn’t want them both giggling away in their room.

“They could sleep with T-Dog, Jacqui and me, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind. We’ve got enough space and I don’t mind watching them. Will give you two a break if you wanted? Plus, I want to keep readin’ and they’re no doubt gonna be awake a lil’ longer.” Carol suggests happily to us both. I wondered if after what happened with Ed, she liked having the kids to watch over, seeing she didn’t have one of her own. I’d kinda noticed she’d took to Sophia quite easily and Sophia the same. 

“Well, um-, only if Jacqui and T-Dog are okay with it, alright?” Lori states.

“They could sleep in the room I set up at the end. It’s small but the couch is big enough for both of them with a space on the floor. That way they won’t have to worry about bothering Jacqui and T-Dog. You sure you want to stay with them Carol?” I ask.

“No, it’s alright. If you don’t mind, that is, I’ll stay with ‘em.” Carol counters.

I look over at Lori and she nods her approval. Sophia and Carl smiles etched on their faces and I smile thinking at how they’re happy with the smallest of things. They practically bound out of the room with Carol, leaving Lori and me in the rec room. 

“That was a nice idea you said. Probably for Carol more than the kids. She likes being around them. She never had her own because of Ed. He wasn’t nice to her.” Lori explains.

“Yeah, I gathered that when she was pummelling his head with the pickaxe.” There was a moment of pause at the thought of the attack on the camp and the events that followed.

“Anyway, it was purely selfish, I want to sleep and she’s right - they’re gonna be awake giggling away for a while.” I smile getting up from my chair to leave, as Lori chuckles. 

“Hey Y/N, um, we haven’t really had a proper conversation yet and I wanted to thank you.” She stops me.

“What for?” I ask.

“For Rick. He said you saved him after he woke from the hospital. I-I wanted to thank you for getting him back to us.” she answers sincerely. 

“It was nothing, really. All I did was patch him up.” I dismiss. 

It was true, though I left out saying I had to stop Morgan from killing him but really, I didn’t do much. But, I suppose, to her, it was everything.  
“And he’s here because of it.” she adds.

“Well, in that case, you should be thanking Glenn. He’s the one who helped us in the city. How we’re here with you. He deserves your thanks more than me.” I smile comfortingly and leave the room.


	22. twenty two

I had gone to knock on T-dog and Jacqui’s room but just before I did, I’d heard them talking and laughing. I wanted to just sleep somewhere quiet, and I didn’t want to intrude on them if they weren’t planning on it yet. It was a moment before I thought about asking Daryl if I could join him in his room, knowing it’d be quiet in there for sure, hoping he’d be alright with it.

“Daryl?” I say as I open the door slowly, peeking in to see he was awake. 

“What?” he answers, looking up from fiddling with his crossbow.

“Mind if I join, its quiet in here and I wanna sleep.”

“What, not got a room yourself? Where’s the kid anyway?”

“There was a bit of switch around.”

Daryl not one for giving much of an answer, I keep mine short. He nods for me to come in and tosses me one of the pillows he had off the couch. He then carries on fiddling with his crossbow while I make myself comfortable on the floor with the blanket I brought. 

I turn on my side, watching him with his crossbow. Noticing he clearly hadn’t taken the opportunity to shower, dirt still dotting his arms and muscles. I find myself scanning him all over as he sits on the couch, admiring him. I spot he has a little mole above his lip, that I never noticed before. He wasn’t an obvious beauty, but I found myself thinking he was attractive, nonetheless. He intrigued me the most out of everyone here, seeming so closed off but I thought there was more to his cold exterior. He seemed okay with me sticking around him when he was alone and although he never said, I wondered if he enjoyed my company.

“Think I could give it a try one day?” I suddenly ask him, looking to his crossbow. He looks up seeing that I’m referring to it.

“I don’t know. Maybe. You any good at shooting?” he replies.

“I was taught with a rifle but never arrows.” I state.

“Who taught ya? Your dad?”

I shake my head. “Just someone I knew for a while, a long time ago. Taught me how to hunt and track, or started to anyway.” I explain.

“You know how to track and hunt?” he asks, a slight look of surprise on his face.

“Well, I say that, it’s been over ten years since I’ve done it. I’m probably a little rusty, but then again, I seemed to have kept my good shot.” I arch one corner of my mouth into a small smile at him. He just says “Mmhmm.” A man of many words.

“It’s why I asked. If we get up out there one day, could I join you on a hunt? Help me refresh the skills?” I ask hopefully. He stares a little before he answers. “Alright. If we ever do.” I gleam a little inside at the small victory but don’t let it show. There’s a pause but I want to keep him talking, enjoying the interaction.

“So, the bike in the back of your truck. Yours?” I ask.

“Merle’s. Mine now, I guess. What, wanna ride too?” He replies. 

I smirk at his comment. “Maybe. I never have but always wanted to. The same someone way back when, he had one at his cabin. I was curious about it. He never rode it though, just sat there collecting dust.” I explain.

“Waste of a bike.” Daryl simply puts. There’s another pause before I decide to speak again.

“Daryl, I know I already said it. But. I am sorry about Merle. All of it. I wish it gone differently. Maybe I should’ve tried to reason with him instead of just letting him go off like that.”

“It’s done. No point crying about it. Merle’s Merle. Whatever happens to him now is his own damn fault. They left him for dead. You didn’t. Your furthest from fault.” He says as he puts his crossbow down, turning the light off. Clearly over the conversation now.

“Still. I tried to help him and nothing came of it.” I say as I hear him get comfortable on the couch.

“He left a good woman who was trying to help. Whatever happens to him now is his own damn fault. You’re alright by me.” He finishes. Feeling contented by his words, I didn’t feel the need to respond. The exchange made me feel just that little closer to him and I smiled to myself before I fell to sleep.


	23. twenty three

As I woke the next morning, I saw Daryl wasn’t on the couch or in the room. As I leant up to a sit, I noticed the extra blanket over my own. I smile realising Daryl must have laid it over me when he left. The simplest of gestures but from Daryl it seemed and felt like a grand one. 

As I joined the group for breakfast, I chuckled seeing the sight of a hungover Glenn at the table as others greeted me. As I sat down, I saw Daryl and smiled, earning me a greeting nod in reply. 

Rick eventually walked into the room, also looking hungover as we ate, and sat down with Lori and Carl, “Good morning.” He said.

“Are you hungover? Mom said you’d be.” Carl was quick to question.

“Mom is right.” Rick replies.

“Mom has that annoying habit.” Lori states, with a smirk, that I can’t help but share.

T-Dog brings over some eggs he’d made. Powdered, but he’d told us he does them good. He dishes them around, giving Glenn a good portion of them, who was sat there groaning, explaining protein is good for the hangover, as we all smile in pity at Glenn. 

“Don’t ever, ever, ever let me drink again.” Glenn declares hunched over his food, earning a few laughs from some of the group, myself included.  
Shane comes into the room and T-Dog notices something on his neck. I look up to see a scratch that wasn’t there before. As he sits, he guesses he must have done it in his sleep, though I find that hard to believe. 

“Never seen you do that before.” Rick states confused by it.

“Me neither. Not like me at all.” Shane says. He looks over at Lori slightly as he does.

Jenner then comes in, greeting the group but I can’t help but think back to seeing Shane go past in the hall last night, headed towards the rec room no doubt, where I left Lori. My suspicion is, from his look at her, something happened and she was the one who gave it to him. I dread to think why. I’m pulled from my thoughts though as Dale and Andrea begin to subtly question Jenner for answers. 

Jenner had brought us into the large computer lab we’d come through the day before, showing us data from collected research, a documented experiment of someone’s brain. It displayed a living person, their brain fully functioning, but not for long. He’d told us that the subject had been bitten, infected, and volunteered to have the process recorded. He’d asked Vi, the system through the building, to skip to the first event and the lights that were in the brain, started to fade, all turning black. Dead. Everything you ever were, gone. Skipping to the second event, you saw a tiny part of the brain light subtly. Jenner explained it ignites the brain stem, getting them up and moving. The part that makes you, you, is gone. You’re just a shell driven by mindless instinct. 

"Is that what happened to Jim and Doc?" Sophia sombrely asked to which I nod, not liking to see the sadness in her eyes.

Something then suddenly shoots through the brain on the screen.

“God, what was that?” Carol asks.

“He shot his patient in the head. Didn’t you?” I state, but Jenner doesn’t respond, instead ordering Vi to power down the workstations and screen.

“You have no idea what it is, do you? I ask, subdued.

“It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal.” Jenner lists.

“Or the wrath of God?” Jacqui questions. “There is that.” He replies.

“Somebody must know something-somebody, somewhere.” Andrea blurts.

“There is other’s right? Other facilities?” I question.

“There may be some. People like me.” He begins.

“But you don’t know? How can you not know?” Rick quickly questions.

“Everything went down – communications, directives, all of it. I’ve been in the dark for almost a month.” He explains.

“So it’s not just here. There’s nothing left anywhere. Nothing?” I ask.

“Yeah. That’s what he’s really saying isn’t it.” Andrea adds on and Jenner says nothing, but answers all the same. Everyone looks around defeated and notice the timer on the wall.

“Man, I’m going to get shit faced drunk, again.” Daryl says, rubbing his head.

“I hate to ask one more question, Jenner. But, that clock, its counting down. What happens at zero?” I question, but not sure if I want to hear the answer.

“The basement generators, they run out of fuel.” Jenner answers, starting to walk away.

“And then?” Rick urges but Jenner continues leaving, saying nothing.

“Vi, what happens when the power runs out?” Rick asks the computer system.

“When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur.” The system says as Jenner walks off.


	24. twenty four

Rick and a couple others had gone looking around the basement to check out the generators. I didn’t exactly want to go look, knowing it would more than likely be bad news, and went back to the rooms with the others. I didn’t want Sophia to see the worry I was most likely displaying on my face from the conversation we’d just had with Jenner, so I told her to go hang out with Carl. ‘Decontamination’. What did that mean exactly? And the way he just walked off. He was missing something off. I found myself at Daryl’s room and saw he was drinking from a bottle of something. He turned to see me, both of us not saying a word as we looked at each other when he held the bottle up in my direction.

“You read my mind.” I say, heading for the bottle, taking a big swig. 

I slumped down next to him on the couch, handing the bottle back to him. As he takes it, his hand brushes mine and the touch sends a small shiver through me. But it felt good. Something I’d never felt before. I turned my head to look at him, seeing him sipping from the bottle. When it left his lips he turned to face me. I watched his adams apple bob as he swallowed. My eyes looked back up to meet his. I could feel a sense of want brewing inside me as my lips ever so smally parted, still just staring at him. That’s when the lights in the room went off. We looked around confused and heard people in the hall. Daryl was up first, the bottle still in his hand, while I was right behind him. He swung around the door frame, leaning out the room as I stood next to him.

“Hey, what’s goin’ on?” Daryl asks.

“Why’s everything turned off?" I question as Jenner approaches, making his way up the hall.

“Energy use is being prioritised.” He states, grabbing the bottle from Daryl’s hand as he continued through the hallway, all us on his trail.

“Air isn’t a priority? And lights?" Dale asks.

“It’s not up to me. Zone 5 is shutting itself down.” Jenner answers as the hall lights go off and he leaves the hall.

“Hey. Hey, what the hell does that mean?" Daryl calls after Jenner.

“Hey man, I’m talking to you. What do you mean, its shutting itself down? How can a building do anything?” Daryl asks catching up to him as we follow him towards the computer lab no doubt.

“You’d be surprised.” Jenner vaguely answers. 

We follow him down the stairs, when Rick and the others come out and join us following Jenner.

“Jenner, what’s happening?” Rick asks frustrated.

“The system is dropping all nonessential uses of power. It’s designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. It starts as we approach that half hour mark. Right on schedule.” He says as we come into the computer lab, pointing at the timer. It nearing 31 minutes. All looking around at each other, worried and confused, Jenner takes a big gulp of the bottle he took from Daryl. Then turning to face him, handing it back to him, which he grabs with an annoyed snatch.

“It was the French.” He suddenly says.

“What?” I say.

“They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting up the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs until the end. They thought they were close to a solution.” He elaborates.

“What happened?” Andrea asks.

“Same thing that’s happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice. The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?” He answers, turning and heading into the middle of the computer lab.

Shane goes after him enraged, but Rick stops him. He tells us to get our stuff, that we were all getting out of here now and I was more than happy to comply. We’d all started to turn back when an alarm begins blaring. We turn back and Vi announces 30 minutes to decontamination, the clock appearing on the big screen. Shane repeats Rick, ordering us to get our stuff and go but, again, as we go to leave the exit door out the area suddenly seals shut, locking us in.


	25. twenty five

“Did you just lock us in? He just locked us in!” Glenn shouts panicked.

We all run back towards Jenner, Daryl in front with a firm grip on the bottle.

“You son of a bitch! You locked us in here!” Daryl yells as he runs for Jenner with the bottle, Rick calling out to Shane to stop him. Daryl continuously shouts at Jenner that he locked us in while Shane and T-Dog hold him back. Rick approaches Jenner sitting at a computer.

“Jenner, open that door now.” Rick demands.

“There’s no point. Everything top side is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed.” He explains.

“Well, open the damn things.” Daryl snaps.

“That’s not something I control. The computers do. I told you- once that front door closed, it wouldn’t open again. You heard me say that.” He aims at Rick, who turns in anger, pacing.

“It’s better this way.” Jenner adds.

“What is? What happens in 28 minutes?” I step forward towards him asking, but he doesn’t respond, just looks back to the computer.

“What happens in 28 minutes?” Rick screams, causing Jenner to stand and face him.

“You know what this place is? We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponised smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don’t want getting out, ever!” he screams back, at all of us. Who just look at him dumbfounded. He sits back down, composing himself. 

“In the event of a catastrophic power failure and a terrorist attack, for example, HITs are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out.” Jenner explains.

“HITs?” Rick questions.

Jenner asks Vi to define. “HITs- High-Impulse Thermo baric fuel-air explosives- consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum pressure effect ignites the oxygen between 5,000 and 6,000 degrees, and is useful where the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired.” 

“It sets the air on fire.” I say looking at Jenner, who nods. I look to Rick in panic as Sophia clings to my side.

“No pain. An end to sorrow, grief, regret. Everything.” Jenner adds.

Some of the guys were attempting to break the sealed door with axes as Jenner tried explaining this was a better way to go to the rest of us, stood and sat there helpless. 

“Can’t make a dent.” Shane states having come back from the door.

“Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher.” Jenner points out.

“Well, your head ain’t!” Daryl yells, coming at him with an axe but the guys stop him, pushing him back.

“You do want this. Last night, you said you know it was just a matter of time before everybody your loved was dead.” Jenner reminds Rick.

“What, you really said that after all your big talk?” Shane questions Rick annoyed.

“I had to keep hope alive, didn’t I?” Rick defends. 

“There is no hope. There never was.” Jenner retorts.

“There’s always hope. Maybe it won’t be you. Maybe not here. But somebody somewhere.” Rick sternly states.

“What part of everything’s gone do you not understand?” Andrea blurts.

“Listen to your friend. She gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event.” Jenner backs.

“This isn’t right. You can’t just keep us here.” I declare, frustrated.

“One tiny moment, a millisecond, no pain.” Jenner explains.

“She doesn’t deserve to die like this.” I gesture down to Sophia. “None of us do.” I add.

“Wouldn’t it be kinder, more compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?” Jenner rationalises as I hear a gun cock and see Shane coming towards him with his shotgun as Rick tries to stop him.

“Open that door, or I’m gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me?” Shane orders as Rick tries talking him down. He starts shooting the computers in rage and Rick eventually stops, knocking him to the ground. Everyone stares at the scene, not knowing what to do or say at this point any longer.

“I think your lying.” I start, aimed at Jenner.

“What?” he says.

“You’re lying about no hope. If that were true, you’d have bolted with the rest and taken the easy way out. You didn’t. You chose the hard path. Why?” I question.

“It doesn’t matter.” Jenner simply dismisses.

“Actually, it does. It always matters. Y/N’s right. You stayed when others ran. Why?” Rick continues.

“Not because I wanted to. I made a promise to her- my wife.” He says, pointing towards the big screen. I realise he means the person he’d shown us through the data process on the screen.

“Subject 19 was your wife?” I ask.

Jenner explains he made a promise to his wife to keep going. That it should have been him on that table, not her. That she could have done something. He speaks wonders of his wife, all the way Daryl has started back on the door with an axe, even though he knows it won’t do anything. Rick pleads his case with Jenner, for all of us, to let us out, to let us try our own way. There’s a pause and I think that Rick’s plea has gone over Jenner’s head as he doesn’t respond. Until.

“I told you top sides locked down. I can’t open those.” Jenner unexpectedly says as he walks around to a control panel. All of us watching in anticipation. He swipes his card and pushes in a code. The exit door suddenly slides open.


	26. twenty six

“Come on!” Daryl calls to us all by the now opened exit.

We all run for it, wanting to get out of here as soon as we could. Most of the guys shouting come on and let’s go. As we get to the door, we stop seeing Rick still standing with Jenner. He seems to be whispering something to Rick. Lori runs back to grab him.

“We got four minutes left! Come on!” I shout as Lori grabs him.

As Rick and Lori get back to the door, T-Dog urges Jacqui to come but she tells him she’s staying. That she doesn’t want to end up like Jim or Amy. T-Dog argues but she clearly has made up her mind and there’s no changing it.

“It’s no time to argue, and no point, not if you want to get out. Just get out. Get out.” She demands, tears in her eyes as we all watch her. We start to leave as Dale follows her back in, looking to Andrea as she states she’s staying too. Dale protests. He tells us to go, not to wait for him. We finally leave, making our way up a stairwell back to the front doors to try to escape.

Opening the doors is no use. The power’s down and we don’t know any codes. Daryl and Shane try breaking the windows with the axes, to no avail. Shane tries one round of his shotgun. Still nothing. Carol approaches Rick, claiming she has something that could help. That she found something in his clothes when she washed them at camp the first morning he was there. She pulls out a grenade, handing it to him. The one from the tank. I remember he found one in the tank and put it in his pocket, I’d forgotten. I pray that this works.

We all duck away from the window for cover as Rick stands by it. He releases the grenade and runs to join us. It explodes and sends him off his feet towards us. We all look up to see that the window has smashed. We run for it, climbing out. I help Sophia down, followed by Carol. I tell her to stay with Carol, seeing there was walkers in our way to the vehicles, knowing I’d probably have to take down a few. We make our way from the front towards the vehicles parked up the road. Rick and Shane shooting walkers on the way as I run out front with them, swinging my katana at walkers, Daryl doing the same with the axe he still held. We both peeled off the side as the others kept running, taking down a few more that got too close and followed back behind.

We all make it back to the vehicles. Rick and a few others get into the RV, Carol ushers Sophia into one of the cars, Shane and T-Dog get into another as I don’t stop running, following Daryl’s calls to his truck. Once we get in, we notice something moving back at the front of the CDC. It was Dale and Andrea. They made it out. But they were cutting it fine, the building was about to blow any minute. They made their way across the front, getting closer to us and it all happened so fast. The RV’s horn blares and someone from it calls to them to get down. They both duck down behind a cover of sandbags as Daryl pulls me down against the seat, his top half laid covering mine when suddenly an ear shattering sound erupts. The CDC explodes, creating a huge blast of fire, engulfing the building and everything in it. 

Even under Daryl I can feel the heat coming off it. He eventually rises off me and I lean back up to see the roar of the burning building in front of us. Dale and Andrea are ushered into the RV as I look upon the place that we were supposed to find answers. All of it up in flames. The RV starts to move, turning to go onto the other side of the road to drive away. The cars in front follow and Daryl ignites the truck doing the same. As we drive off, I think about our chances. Was there any place safe now? Atlanta was supposed to be that but look how that turned out. Now the CDC. A burning wreck, we’d come out of in no better condition than when we’d entered. I was barely holding onto the hope of something out there at this point, but I had to. For Sophia, if not for myself. There had to be something out there. I just hoped we’d find it. As we drove away from the CDC onto an unknown path into an uncertain future, the only thing I could hold onto for certain in this moment was that we had each other and if we had each other, we had a chance. I had to think like that. I had to.


End file.
